Blogpost by Bogdan Burdușel The Ethics and Societal Implications of an AI Roma Singer: Representation, Stereotypes, and Exploitation in “Lolita Cercel”
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming cultural production, enabling the creation of synthetic artists that can generate music, visuals, and narratives without direct human embodiment. While these developments are often framed as innovative, they also carry the risk of reproducing and amplifying structural inequalities. The case of “Lolita Cercel” exemplifies these tensions. The deliberate construction of a Roma female persona by a non-Roma creator, combined with aesthetic and narrative choices that emphasize sexuality and exoticism, raises urgent ethical questions about authorship, representation, and power.
In his article, Bogdan Burdușel deconstructs the hurdles of AI and the precondition bias when depicting minority identities like Roma. This not only leads to stereotypical representations, but it also transforms Roma identity into a usable commodity while severing it from Roma people themselves. This poses the important question: Who gets to create?
