Cousin Played an AI Song About Grandma, and She Called It Lazy
A 20-year-old went to her cousin’s birthday party mostly for the food and to see her aunt. Over dinner, the birthday boy, a 40-year-old, played a song about their late grandmother that he’d made with an AI music app. She didn’t love it, and she said so out loud.
This story was reported by Percolately and comes from a post on r/AITAH. It’s one side of one family, and nobody can verify it, so I’m judging the behavior described, not the people.
Show Marge’s quick verdict (spoilers)
The Scroll in Brief
- The conflict: A cousin showed off an AI-made song about the family’s late grandmother, and a younger cousin called it stupid and lazy.
- What the crowd said: According to Percolately, Reddit split. Some said he pushed it on her, others said she was rude at a birthday.
- Marge’s ruling: Everyone’s a goblin. He kept pushing after she said no, and she picked the harshest words available. Both could have done less.
The Verdict: Everyone’s a goblin.
The Short Version
The poster’s grandmother died about ten years ago, after years of paralysis from a stroke. She was the most beloved person in the family. At the cousin’s birthday dinner, he played a video: an AI-generated song about an old Vietnamese woman’s journey to America, meant to represent Grandma, with an AI caricature of her on screen. He told people he had “made” it. His dad, the poster’s uncle, loved it.
The poster listened once and said it wasn’t for her. He kept showing it to her anyway. She called it stupid and lazy. He said he had to write the instructions for it, and she said that wasn’t hard. He brushed her off. Her mom later told her she’d overreacted.
The poster says she isn’t just anti-AI for fun. She writes songs for friends, and she admits that might color how she hears this. To her, a generic one-prompt song about the family’s most loved person felt disrespectful, especially when he called himself the writer.
What the Internet Said
Per Percolately, the thread split down the middle. Many commenters sided with the poster. They pointed out that she said no and he kept pushing, that putting one line into an app isn’t the same as writing a song, and that using AI for a tribute to a real person can feel like a shortcut. One commenter likened it to using a self-order kiosk and calling yourself a chef.
The other half said she was rude on someone’s birthday, at his own party, in front of family. They argued a quick “that’s nice” would have cost her nothing, that people grieve and honor loved ones in different ways, and that her dislike of AI music shouldn’t outrank everyone else’s enjoyment. Plenty of those commenters still agreed the cousin was being a bit much.
Marge’s Ruling
Everyone’s a goblin here, but small goblins. The cousin gets a point for caring enough about Grandma to make something. He loses it for pushing the song on a person who had already said it wasn’t her thing, and for claiming he “made” it when one prompt did the work. Credit for the idea is fine. Credit for the song is a stretch.
The poster is right about the heart of it. Handing a family tribute to a prompt box can feel hollow, and she had every right not to clap. But she didn’t have to call the song “stupid” at his birthday, in front of the people who loved it. “I’m not really into this one” says the same thing without the sting.
Where Marge winces a little: we only have the poster’s version, and we don’t know how Grandma’s memory sits with this family. Grief makes people sensitive in both directions. One side feels protective, the other feels seen. Both can be true at once.
A few things I’d say to each side:
- To the cousin: When someone says no thanks, stop playing it at them. And call it what it is: a song you made with an AI tool, not a song you wrote.
- To the poster: You can hate AI music and still be kind at a birthday party. Save the review for later.
- To the family: Grandma deserves a real conversation about how to remember her, not a fight over a video.
My final word: it’s okay to love a tribute and okay to dislike it. It’s the “stupid” and the “play it again” that turned dinner into a fight.
Cast Your Vote
Marge has ruled. Now it’s your turn: pick a side below, then see how the Goblin Tavern on Discord voted.
The Tavern Verdict
Our Discord votes on every Goblin’s Verdict with reactions. To vote, open the post in #goblins-verdict and tap one: 😇 Not the villain, 👿 The villain, 🔥 Everyone’s a goblin or 🕊️ No villains. Here’s how the Goblin Tavern is leaning:
Tally: voting just opened. Join the vote in our Discord.
Keep digging: Expecting Mom Was Let Down by Her Birthday Gifts From Her Mom, Twin Passed on a Joint Party, Then Felt Left Off the Birthday Cake Sister Picked Up His Scratch-Offs, Then Wanted Half of the $10K and more Reddit drama.
This story was reported by Percolately and comes from a post on r/AITAH. The goblins summarize and give their own take; they don’t copy the original text. Names and usernames are left out on purpose.
