Stock tips with a beat: Samsung Securities' AI K-pop group racks up views

SEOUL, November 12 – Samsung Securities, a prominent Korean stock brokerage, has enlisted an unconventional set of brand ambassadors: an AI-created K-pop girl group named LUMINA. LUMINA's debut music video, "Override," garnered nearly 3 million views on YouTube within five weeks of its release. Finding human presenters for their social media channels proved challenging, according to Uhm Sewon, the head of Samsung Securities' media strategy team.

AI tools have enabled the creation of LUMINA's music, characters, and video, with the dance moves appearing increasingly natural, Uhm explained.

The brokerage has not registered copyright for the song, as South Korean guidelines stipulate that AI-generated music without human creative input cannot be copyrighted. To ensure investor trust, LUMINA is labeled as fictional, and all content undergoes verification by in-house specialists in three stages. While it's too early to measure the financial returns of this venture, Samsung Securities believes that LUMINA's content will have a positive long-term impact, thanks to previous successful YouTube collaborations.

Park Sang-cheol, chairman of the Korea Singers Association, sees AI as an unstoppable trend that could benefit artists by reducing production costs and facilitating song experimentation. However, he warns that AI could harm corporate modeling, session musicians, songwriters, and arrangers, posing risks to creators' rights. Park emphasizes the importance of monitoring AI developments and implementing policy safeguards.

Although AI-generated music initially sounds appealing, the repetitive nature can become tiresome, he noted. Live performances, with their unique colors and imperfections, hold intrinsic appeal that AI cannot replicate. South Korea leads the world in generative AI usage, with the highest quarterly growth among major economies, according to Microsoft's AI Economy Institute.

Virtual K-pop groups, such as LUMINA, have been gaining traction, with their entirely AI-generated music charting on South Korean music charts in late 2023.