KPop Demon Hunters Controversy Explained: Was Soda Pop Written With ChatGPT?

The KPop Demon Hunters animated movie is a major hit for Netflix. It's infectious, to paraphrase one of the animated movie's main characters. The film has become a cultural phenomenon in a matter of months, and it's not just the story or the animation that keeps you engaged. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is the secret ingredient that's making fans around the world rewatch it, sing along, or listen to the catchy songs on repeat. Soda Pop is one of those infectious songs, easily a hit of the summer, which you might have heard playing everywhere in the past few months.

It turns out that KPop Demon Hunters is having a controversial moment at the time of this writing that involves Soda Pop and ChatGPT. You might have seen reports online about Vince, one of the co-writers of Soda Pop, saying that he used ChatGPT to help come up with ideas for the song. As Gizmodo reports, it appears the actual meaning was lost in translation, as the songwriter's words were misinterpreted.

Everything occurred during OpenAI's opening of the Korean office, an event that featured several guests, including Vince, one of the five writers who Netflix credits for Soda Pop. An OpenAI executive posted the following message in a now-deleted tweet that Reddit saved: "Fav moment from the launch celebration was hearing singer/songwriter Vince share that ChatGPT helped him write Soda Pop from KPop Demon Hunters! It apparently gave him ideas to make it sound "more bubbly."

According to Gizmodo, an English version of a report in Joongang Daily published on Monday, also made it sound like Vince used ChatGPT to ideate concepts for Soda Pop. However, the Korean version of the article shows that Vince made a broader statement about using ChatGPT for producing K-Pop music. "I sometimes use ChatGPT to get some inspiration while producing K-Pop," Vince said, per a Gizmodo translation. Machine translation of the Korean version of the Joongang Daily article also offers a similar result.

Joongang Daily corrected the English version of the article on Wednesday, removing the mention of Vince using AI to produce Soda Pop. Since the tweet sparking this KPop Demon Hunters AI controversy was also deleted, it looks like everything was a big misunderstanding caused by language barriers. Paradoxically, it might be AI that failed to accurately translate the original article into English as revealed in a note at the end of the corrected story. According to the note, the original Korean article was translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools before being reviewed by an English-speaking editor.

Corrections aside, some damage might have been done, as the news of Vince using ChatGPT to write Soda Pop for KPop Demon Hunters might have spread long before the corrections came. Some fans might have misunderstood how some of the music for the animated movie was made. Netflix and Vince have yet to comment on the matter.

Regardless of whether Vince used AI, the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is a massive success. Soda Pop is one of the breakout hits of KPop Demon Hunters. Sung by the fictitious Saja Boys band, the song made the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, peaking at No. 5, and reached No. 3 on the Global 200 chart. KPop Demon Hunters is the most popular Netflix film ever, as of late August. The film topped 266 million views by early September, becoming the streamer's most-watched title ever. Previously, the first season of Squid Game held the top spot.

As for Netflix using AI in its originals, the streamer already admitted to having used an unnamed generative AI product to create special effects for a Netflix TV show. The disclosure came well after the show became popular. Since then, the streamer has released a comprehensive guide for studios looking to use AI for producing Netflix originals.