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Willie Nelson Sounds Off On The Endless Amount Of AI Slop About Him: “If You Believe Those Death Stories One More Time…”
“If you believe those AI death stories one more time…”
If there has been one singular thing that has dominated headlines across nearly each and every industry, profession and walks of life in the year 2025, it was undoubtedly AI. Like many things, at first, it seemed like nothing more than a harmless form of new technology, with many early AI models simply creating low quality images on various different platforms and potentially being able to pump out a solid, albiet factually-unreliable piece of text.
Over the course of the past year or two, AI has developed in what can only be described as a rapid and genuinely terrifying pace. These days, the models and software have been getting so good, in fact, that it’s becoming hard to decipher what’s truly real and what’s a product of AI.
This, of course, has opened up a brand new, concerning can of worms that raises issues with everything from plagiarism (given the fact that AI itself cannot “create” art and thus has to steal from both artists and writers to learn and further replicate material) and what’s truly run rampant over the past year — misinformation.
While one of the biggest stories in the music industry (and country music specifically) has been the recent rise in AI artists on major charts such as Billboard and iTunes. And while those stories themselves are concerning, I’d argue some of the most disturbing and ultimately sinister uses of AI have been the strange, deceptive and nonsensical stories and images generated using the likeness of some of the biggest stars in country music.
Though we’ve seen the likes of Lainey Wilson be on the receiving end of some strange AI stories being peddled by random accounts online, it’s been older, legacy artists such as Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, George Strait and more who have been getting a wide variety of deceptive, AI slop being posted about them, even more disturbingly about their “deaths,” which seemingly happen every few days ago at this point.
Given that the “Always On My Mind” singer is not only one the most iconic artists in the genre’s history but also admittedly getting pretty old at the ripe age of 92, these AI slop accounts seem to target him the most.
And it seems like Willie has had enough of it lately.
In a hilarious post on Instgram this afternoon, Nelson would upload multiple photos of film reels of himself simply lying and sleeping on a couch, in one image giving a bit of a side-eye to the camera. In the caption, he’d simply say:
“If you believe those AI death stories one more time…”
View this post on Instagram
The sad fact of the matter is this isn’t even the first time that Willie himself had to go and clear the air on social media surrounding the increasing AI misinformation about him (or dispel rumors that he tragically died).
Back in July, the country music legend had to cancel a stop on his Outlaw Music Festival, but it had nothing to do with his health. Severe weather rolled through the Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Missouri and damaged the festival’s equipment and instruments, forcing the show featuring Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and more to cancel their show:
“The Outlaw Music Festival’s 10th Anniversary concert event scheduled for July 1, 2025 at Lucky Star Amphitheater in El Reno, Oklahoma has been canceled due to unforeseeable circumstances. An extreme weather event on the evening of June 29th in Ridgedale, Missouri at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena produced heavy rains and high winds, forcing the crowd to evacuate.
Unfortunately, much of the Outlaw Music Festival’s equipment and artists’ instruments were damaged and waterlogged, making their condition difficult to assess in time to accurately and safely use for tomorrow’s show. The potential damage has halted the festival production as they recover and replace what’s necessary for the tour to resume. The tour looks forward to resuming in Austin, Texas on July 4.”
But a fake post that’s making its rounds on social media is claiming that Willie is facing a far more serious problem than some waterlogged guitars.
According to the post, which has been shared by several large Facebook accounts and accompanied by an AI-generated photo of Willie in the hospital, the country music legend had to be rushed to the hospital after collapsing. The post claims that Willie’s son, Lukas Nelson, made the announcement that his father was in “serious but stable condition” and that doctors have revealed that “the coming hours will be critical.”
The only problem is that it’s all bullsh-t. And Wille himself confirmed that it was fake news, clapping back at the viral post’s laughable claims:
“LOL what a joke – anyways see y’all at 4th of July picnic tomorrow.”
I couldn’t even imagine seeing seemingly dozens (potentially hundreds) of fake images not only misrepresenting me but also alluding to my death, but that’s exactly what Willie has to deal with now with the rise of AI. I think it’s about time to seriously reconsider nearly everything surrounding AI at this point, especially before it becomes too late.
For the 800th time…
The post Willie Nelson Sounds Off On The Endless Amount Of AI Slop About Him: “If You Believe Those Death Stories One More Time…” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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