If you find yourself a fan of the next new Boy George song, you might have AI to thank. The 80s music icon has been using artificial intelligence tools to help him with his songwriting.
During a conversation on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, George shared his new approach, saying that the “practice has really helped me as a lyricist.” He went on to say that he enjoys being able to write alone but still have some level of collaboration.
“You’re not working with anyone else,” he said. “You don’t have to worry even for two seconds about what they think. I’m a top-line writer, so I write top-line melodies. All the people I work with send me tracks, and I’ll just sit with them, and I’ll just play it and play it.”
“I have fantastic conversations with ChatGPT,” George added. “And I’ll say: ‘Oh, those lyrics are crap. That’s not what I would say.’ You know what I mean? But, actually, you can train it.”
Boy George is hardly the first of his music industry peers to integrate AI into their creative process. For example, in June 2025, rapper/producer Timbaland announced that he signed AI music “artist” TaTa to his new label, Stage Zero. The label is designed to blend AI-based sounds with human ingenuity to create “A-pop,” or AI pop.
But what is the motivation here, to circumvent the human element in performance? Months earlier, Timbaland appeared on The Inner Court podcast and said he finds new music artists very “uninspiring.” He also said that lots of modern music is “soulless.” The Grammy-winning producer also blamed the 2024 presidential election for dividing Americans, right down to the creative level.
Artificial Intelligence-produced music is sometimes referred to as “A-Pop”
“You could feel the pressure of the dividedness, and I hate that. This whole election divided us,” Timbaland said. “What I mean by that is it divided the music. The music sounds bland, it sounds boring—it lacks excitement. While we frequently discuss AI, I believe it’s the only entity that embodies a genuine soul right now. It allows for the expression of true feelings, resulting in it coming out beautiful.”
“I feel like right now everything is discombobulated,” he added. “Which aligns with everything in the world. Ain’t no song right now—and y’all gotta admit—that’s grabbing you. Ain’t no theme song for people’s [lives].”
Who knows, maybe these two can get together and crank out 2026’s biggest hit. Only time will tell.
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