Singer Grimes voiced her anger on X (formerly Twitter) about a Sephora advertisement that interrupted her Apple Podcasts listening experience. She felt the ad, which she believes was AI-targeted, intruded on her personal space and learning time, expressing concern that such ads promote unrealistic beauty standards.
Grimes stated that the incident made her feel enraged and worried about shielding her daughter from the pressures of societal beauty standards. She feels that the constant bombardment of such messages constitutes a significant mental drain.
This incident comes against a backdrop of Grimes' previous public statements regarding AI. She has expressed openness to AI-generated music, even offering to split royalties from any successful song that uses her voice. Further, she has launched an open-source platform, Elf.Tech, which enables users to create AI-generated vocals that mimic her own voice.
The article notes that while Apple Podcasts offers paid, ad-free subscription services, its free service contains advertisements. Grimes' experience highlights the potential intrusion of such ads, even when users expect a quiet and peaceful environment.
Neither Apple nor Sephora responded to requests for comment from Business Insider regarding Grimes's claims of an AI-targeted ad.