Why South Korea's Entertainment Industry Is Betting on Robots [WSJ]

The WSJ video examines how the South Korean entertainment industry, which turned K-pop into a multibillion-dollar industry, is making AI and robots its next engines of growth. It introduces robot performances in Seoul and Galaxy Corporation's project to create robotic twins of stars, working with artists including G-Dragon and Taemin, but reports that the robots' dancing skills still have a long way to go. Virtual bands and AI production of music tracks and music videos are the industry's real battleground, and indie musician Annie says she used AI to make the music video for her single Soft Delusion. The video covers criticism of AI use as AI slop and the reality that generative AI such as Suno is eliminating jobs for demo vocalists and voice actors. Against the view that AI, following music piracy and streaming, is another unavoidable wave, it explains how the Korea Music Copyright Association allowed the registration of AI-assisted music in August (month 8), only to reverse the decision a few weeks later. It introduces the reality that disclosure of AI use relies on human honesty, along with the emergence of startups using AI to detect and reverse-engineer AI content to compensate rights holders. It reports on HYBE's acquisition of AI voice startup Supertone for approximately 3500 ten-thousand dollars and its divestment 3 years later, as well as fierce backlash from fans. All outlooks about future direction are the speakers' conditional assessments, not definitive short-term price predictions.