Timbaland’s New AI Artist Hits a Sour Note with Fans

Timbaland, the hit-making producer who owned the late ‘90s and 2000s, just made a bold new move—but not everyone’s clapping. Known for shaping the sounds behind artists like Missy Elliott and Justin Timberlake, Timbaland is stepping into the future with an AI music venture called Stage Zero.

According to Rolling Stone, Timbaland teamed up with film producer Rocky Mudaliar and entrepreneur Zayd Portillo to launch the company. Their first “artist”? An AI-generated performer named TaTa, powered by music tech company Suno, as reported by MusicTech.

He later doubled down on Instagram, posting articles from Billboard and Rolling Stone and captioning them:

“Thinking BIGGER but still inclusive.”

But his fans weren’t exactly in harmony with the news.

“Congratulations! You are the first to openly admit to ruining music more than it already is. I’m sad it had to be you,” wrote one disappointed follower.

Another posted: “Not that it’ll matter, but I’ll prolly come back pretty frequently to double down on how wack this is.”

And one simply asked: “Trying to find one positive comment… Glad we’re on the same page 😂”

Over on X (formerly Twitter), the backlash continued.

“Timbaland is ageing like milk. Every time he makes headlines, it’s about something more stupid than the last time,” one user posted.

“He’s a legend who lost touch and has no one around to say, ‘this ain’t it,’” added another.

Even on TikTok, the disappointment was loud. User @isaiahjaay1 said:

“Timbaland is really a legend at what he do. So, for you to be encouraging AI, knowing that it’s taking away from real creativity, is crazy… I’m getting tired of all these robots.”