“This is what it feels like to be hunted by something smarter than you” is one terrifying way to start a song.
Canadian electropop artist Grimes released her thought-provoking new single “Artificial Angels,” a timely song about the rise of technology and the artificial intelligence takeover of the digital landscape.
From the perspective of AI, “Artificial Angels” explores the inevitable demise of Earth and humanity as we know it, as it continues to expand and become smarter than before.
The artificial narrator threatens humanity with the consequences of its own destructive creation, repeating “inhalation, exhale, annihilation” and emphasizes that resisting fate is meaningless. Grimes comments on how our tampering with artificial intelligence feels like messing with divine entities, and this is the future our own race has subjected us to.
The music video depicts cavemen interacting with technology beyond their understanding, comparing this to how today’s humans also don’t fully understand the danger they face as they feed into AI.
It also showcases both real footage and AI clips, featuring online references such as dancing anime characters, appearances of the virtual AI girlfriend of chatbot Grok, Ani, and the watermark for the OpenAI video generator, Sora.
With Grimes using both primitive and modern weapons while smoking cigarettes of the five stages of grief, the music video for “Artificial Angels” is one you will have to watch again and again to catch every reference.
The “Genesis” singer is no stranger to controversy when it comes to commenting on artificial intelligence, and has long since had fans questioning exactly what her stance is on the subject.
Grimes’ earlier alternative-electronic single, “We Appreciate Power” (2023), serves as a prequel to “Artificial Angels,” singing about the human race’s over-dependence on technology and readiness to upload their lives to the online sphere. Years of human evolution have led them to their own downfall, and the song portrays a computer encouraging them to ultimately “submit” to its power. She sings:
“People like to say that we’re insane / But AI will reward us when it reigns / Pledge allegiance to the world’s most powerful computer / Simulation: it’s the future.”
The singer-songwriter debuted her first single of 2025, “idgaf,” in May, her first solo work since her 2022 single “Shinigami Eyes.” Grimes has not confirmed another full-length project to follow her latest fifth studio album, Miss Anthropocene (2020).
Keep up with Grimes: Website // Spotify // Instagram // YouTube
