Backlash Against Czech Ice Skaters AI Generated Music

Um, should we do a little bit about the, uh, figure skating, which I guess is the first thing that I brought up on our, on our intro.

So, OK, so, um, the, uh, US, uh, ice dancing team, it was, um, uh, Chalk and Bates.

They, we saw them in the team event and they were awesome and they were the best, uh, in this, uh, in the rhythm dance.

They were back in the 90s today, so it was a very fun day because in the team event there were fewer, um, Uh, teams and routines.

This one, there were a lot more people in action, including three different pairs from the US.

Um, so you got to hear the full playlist of 90s throwbacks with this being the theme.

So there was a ton of Spice Girls.

I think I saw that like three different uh routines had the same Ricky Martin song in it, and, uh, who was it?

Somebody tweeted about how like the audience, the arena had like an audible groan, uh, realizing that they were gonna hear the same song again for the third time.

Um, but yeah, they had their, uh, Lenny Kravitz routine.

They were good, but they're, they were not as good as they were in the team competition, and they actually finished in 2nd behind, uh, a pair from France.

So it was, uh, and again, this happened like right, uh, as we were starting to record, so we haven't gotten a chance to see a ton of commentary, but I was watching it on, uh, Gold Zone, and, um, they have Ashley Wagner in the studio there at this time of day, and Scott Hansen, who made the quick, you know, don't talk about me being a hero, uh, get it going from Super Bowl.

Coverage to this podcast.

Uh, Scott Hansen is back on Gold Zone.

Mike Tirico made the trip all the way to Milan.

But anyway, Hansen was in studio with, uh, Ashley Wagner and did a great job.

He was like, I have 3 questions for you.

Are you surprised?

Was it fair?

And, uh, how close is this?

Uh, the answer is they are behind, but it's like a virtual tie.

They are like very, very, very close.

Um, this is, uh, one of two competitions that will go into the, um, ice dance medal.

Um, so they'll have the, this was like the rhythm dance, which was shorter, and they'll have the free skate, which is the longer program.

Um.

But yeah, uh, Ashley Wagner said she was surprised, um, it was funny, he was like, you know, was this fair?

And she was like, well, you know, is anything in life fair?

It's kind of like playing it off, didn't want to like complain about the judges.

Um, but no, they just, they had a lower score, um, and I think the French had a great routine , and the French are also good in the free skate.

So I think this is one where people looked at it and, and thought like, oh, this is a great chance for a gold medal, and I think, uh, it's definitely gonna be a little bit harder after what we saw today.

Um, I don't know if you have anything you want to add on the US, but I do have one other big note from the figure skating.

It's just that I saw a, uh, a Czech team, and they danced, the, uh, the broadcaster mentioned they were dancing to an AI generated track.

It was AC DC and so not like totally AI generated, but it was like the beat behind, she was just like, oh, the beat behind the beat on this is like an AI generated thing.

And just like said it like it was no big deal.

And I was like, what are you, how, how can you say it like it's no big deal, especially like this whole sport, it feels like 90% of it is like artistry and human creativity, and then they're just like, let's do an AI beat to this, and like, ah, I just, it's like.

It's just so stupid to me, um, especially like there are so many people in this sport who are around it who put so much thought into the musical selection and the outfits and the choreography, and the skills and everything, and so just like to use an AI track, and then, um, I posted this and a few people responded, like we've talked already.

These games about possible copyright issues.

And so some people were wondering, like, is this going to be the future of figure skating?

Like if it gets harder to copyright music, will you just use AI generated and it's like, well, that sucks.

Like, I'd rather you, uh, like find a musician to write you a custom track than just like use AI, um, so I don't know if this is really the future.

They, I did see the, um, skater, uh, one of them was like pretty young, so I don't know if this is like a generational thing.

Um, but I don't know, at least one group went in there and just like proudly, I guess, told everyone that they were using an AI generated music track.

Um, which, you know, I just don't like, especially in that sport, like I said, um, it feels like it's a human sport for human artistry, and, uh, and anyway, there was, there was AI music, and I don't know if AC DC, you know, gave permission to have their stuff cleared, if they knew that it was going to be mixed over an AI track, um, I don't know, I this rant has already gone on for longer than maybe it had to, but it was something I wanted to bring up, and then once I got started, I couldn't stop myself.

Yeah, if I was one of the judges, I would go rogue and just give him a big fat zero for once I learned that fact.

But uh, no, that's, I don't, I don't like that one bit.

Speaking of the music though, um, people who, who, you know, that you mentioned chalk and Bates, and they, they skated to real music, and so much so that their parents seem to love it.

Did you see the clip of both of their moms singing along to the the backing track?

I did, yeah, they said their, um, parents are, uh, like very close and sit together and every, like all four of them lined up and that was, that was adorable.

Yeah, I loved it.

Yeah, so I, you know, it goes to show you why it benefits to use real music instead of some AI crap.

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Yeah, all right.

Um, anything else you wanted to get to?

I don't know if you wanna go like lightning round on the ski jumping or the, the big air.

The, so I, I can say the women's big air, I did not watch a ton of it, but, uh, from a reliable source, which is, uh, Michelle Bruton at Forbes, I saw she posted on Blue Sky, uh, in an emphatically not boring women's snowboard big air final, and I was glad to see that because this was the one where the, uh, the broadcaster.

After the men's competition was on a hot mic and said it was boring.

Um, but no, it looks like that was a, uh, an exciting competition with like some of the real top competitors and like past medal, uh, contenders were like back up at the top of the podium.

I don't have a ton of info on the results.

I don't know if you saw this, um, anything to add on, on that.

Yeah, I watched and, and we talked about, you, you mentioned during our talk on the slopestyle, you're like, oh, I wish there was like, you know, some competitor like landing a big trick to win it, like that happened here, um.

So I, I, in my notes here, the first it was Great Britain's Mia Brooks.

She had, you know, she's, she's trying to get to that top spot, trying to get on the podium.

She's sitting in 4th, and she's like, she goes, she goes big.

I had my, uh, my friend Christian texted me the other day, he's like, why don't they, like, why do they kind of play it safe, and it, but it was during qualifying.

I was like, no, you'll see, like, during the, during the competition, if, if they're trailing, they're gonna go for something really big and, you know, take a risk, they might not land, but if they do land it, they're gonna be on the podium.

So she did exactly that.

Took a big risk, you know, I don't know how many, how many revolutions it was.

I'm, I'm, you know, I have a hard time memorizing all those numbers, but she went for a, you know, a much more complex trick that she had in any of her previous runs, uh, and she fell and landed.

But, you know, great to see them, you know, going all out like that.

And then it was, uh, Japan's Kokomo Morase, she had, again, just like a really big trick, you know, going all out and she takes over the top spot.

She's, uh, she's in 1st place, and then after her was, uh, Sung Gun Yoo or Yu Seng Gun of the, uh, of Korea, who again, you know, attempts this big, this big trick.

She's now sitting in 3rd place, she fell, didn't get.

The medal.

Um, so yeah, just like really, they were going, you know, one after another, just trying to, trying to up each other.

Um, there was an athlete from New Zealand, Zoe Sinnet Sadowski, who had gone previously was sitting in, in 2nd or had been in 1st and was overtaken by Moasse.

Um, you know, they're all trying to chase her, and some succeeded, some didn't.

It was some good drama there at the end.

All right.

Anything on the, uh, the ski jumping, on the ski jumping, I do have a just, just a couple of notes cause we, we've been following the ski jumping, um, and so this was not, this was happening at the same time as the, as the big air, so kind of, I caught just the very end of it.

But uh yeah that happened last time too, remember I said that they just like they flipped the genders and, and by the way, and I had the same reaction.

I just, it was hard to get into the ski jumping like while the uh big air was going on.

I think I'm just out on ski jumping.

It's just, I, I know it's, I'm very impressed by them, uh, by their, by the jumps themselves and the fearlessness of them, uh, up in the air, but I just, it's like very repetitive and, uh, it's not because of the scandal.

I'm not, not upset about that, but just, I don't know, hard, hard one for me to get super into.

I think that I, I, I tend to agree with you.

I think there's very little that I, uh, that I can glean from the box score, that I can't, you know, that that I can't glean from the box score that I can glean from, like, watching it itself, because, um, so I, I saw like just a couple of last few , uh, skiers here, um, Germany's Philip Reymond.

Uh, he won gold.

He had a great, you talk about, you know, a great final performance.

He needed a big jump to secure the gold, he got it.

Uh, he's 25, his first medal.

Um, and then there was a skier from Poland who got silver, and then there was a, we talked about ties, there was a tie, uh, for bronze between Japan and Switzerland.

Um, I bring it up mainly because we're talking about Norway and their chances in the ski jumping, and Norway was shut out in this event for the 2nd Olympics in a row.

We've talked about how they're usually this, you know, ski jumping powerhouse shut out again.

Uh, what I found interesting, so we talked about how there were the two, Uh, you know, suspended athletes who were in this competition, they finished pretty far down the , down the table, but, um, there was, uh, so the way they do this competition is there's two rounds, right?

And, uh, after the first round, they whittle down the field to just the contenders, they go again for, for placement, right?

So, um, after the first round, uh, Norwegian, Christopher Eriksson Sundal, he posted the 3rd best score, and I had seen this result after the 1st round, they take a bit of a break, and so I pull up the scores, I go, oh wow, look at that, this Norwegian guy has a chance at a medal, like, you know, make a note of that, uh, that might become relevant, we're talking about their chances.

Um, but his 2nd jump was only 19th best in that round, so we finished, um, I don't have it here, I think it was like 7th or something.

Um, interestingly, he had his, his second jump was farther, but he lost points for style.

That's what cost him, uh, cost Norway, cost him a medal.