Producer K Fresh Says Timbaland Used His Beat Without Permission to Train AI

A dispute erupted when K Fresh Music spotted Timbaland using his beat and producer tag in an AI demo without asking first. The incident began after Timbaland shared a track created with an AI tool called "Suno," which included K Fresh's work.

K Fresh responded to the matter with a few Instagram posts, as seen in Complex. "People keep sending me this. I still don't even know what to think about it. A little chain of events if you will," he wrote as she shared snapshots of the events from him producing the beat to Timbo uploading it to Suno.

Fans on social media expressed their disappointment in the comments of various posts discussing the controversy.

"At the bare minimum, there needs to be consent. AI usage without that is theft. Musicians already gotta deal with enough of that," another critic, @ladidaix, wrote on X.

During an Instagram Live session, Timbaland also addressed the matter. "[I'm] showing the power of a tool and how powerful it is. How it can flip songs to do remixes," he stated.

The music started on TikTok with K Fresh's original beat. Someone added vocals to it. Then Timbaland took both parts and created a new version with Suno.

As he was clearing the hair, Timbaland also mentioned that Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah wanted the remixed track, and claimed he reached out to K Fresh to send the original previously. "I don't get nothing from that, but that post said, 'Yo God can you send me that beat?' That ain't my beat," he said in his response with his hands raised.

The clash shines light on AI's role in music creation. In mid-2023, Timbaland launched Stage Zero, focusing on AI-driven music. Their first AI artist, Ta Ta, made waves in the industry.

Producer Swizz Beatz stood by his peer's AI work. "I'm happy that Tim is into AI because all the white people in it. Why we can't get in it? I don't care how. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. So, this is Tim's entry point into AI. Whether we like it or not, it's an entry point," Swizz Beatz said in a statement shared with HotNewHipHop.

Speaking to Billboard, Timbaland noted that AI drastically cuts his production time. Projects now wrap up in two days instead of three months.