Controversy erupts in world of contemporary Christian music with popularity of fake singer
CCM hit performer revealed to be the AI project of a Turning Point rapper
Christians for centuries have sought inspiration through music, often believing that the Holy Spirit sometimes inspires lyricists and musicians in ways that can be uplifting and supportive of the Christian walk.
But what if the music is coming not from an inspired artist but from artificial intelligence? That is the question that has been urgently debated in the past few days as it has become known that several songs topping some iTunes and Billboard Christian music charts are not performed by a man named Solomon Ray but by AI.
Christian artist and influencer Forrest Frank broke the news about the AI star in Instagram video last week, questioning whether AI-produced Christian music is appropriate:
The number album right now to Christian music on iTunes and the number two pop singles over Elevation, Brandon Lake, whoever, is AI. And I hate to even bring attention to this but I wanted to just let you guys know that this is out there, and I think it’s important that we just pause a little bit and kind of ask the questions of like, is it something that we want? At the minimum, AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it. So I think that’s really weird, to be opening up your spirit to something that has no spirit. So what are we doing about this? Are we rejecting this or are we championing this? I personally will not be listening to this. I already don’t listen to secular music, and I’m sure not going to be listening to AI Christian music. God bless you guys, and yeah, I just want to bring that to your attention.
As it turns out, Solomon Ray is the brainchild of Christopher Jermaine Townsend, described by The Roys Report as a conservative rap artist affiliated with Turning Point USA, the religious-political organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk. He is also known as Topher.
According to the Christian publication Relevant, Solomon Ray’s official Instagram account defended the use of AI this way:
I get where some of y’all are coming from, but let’s be clear — AI isn’t replacing the heart of gospel music. It’s simply a new tool God allowed us to have. The message is still the message. The impact is still real. And the souls being reached don’t stop to check the “method” first. Some people create with instruments, some with computers, and now some with AI. But if the fruit is good, the message uplifts, and people feel closer to God … why tear it down? Creativity has always evolved. The Gospel is the same — how we share it just keeps expanding.
And those comments set the tone of the debate for fans and musicians in social media as well as various Christian news news media.
“When a computer generated AI person is the poster child of Christian music then you know we have lost our minds. This is really, really bad,” said one critic, Josh Goetzinger, on Threads.
But a fan of the song, John LaCarter, wrote on X: “As much as I hate to say it, this song is really great. ... Hey if God can make a donkey talk1, He can also use AI.”
A twist to this story is that as much the Solomon Ray you’ve reading about is fake, there is also a real, live Christian singer called Solomon Ray. He sometimes goes by the name of Solo.
His popularity is nowhere that of the AI character: His Spotify bio shows him getting 5,418 monthly listeners compared with the AI character’s 454,800.
But the living Solomon Ray seemed to be putting the situation in perspective in an Instagram post he addressed to Forrest Frank:
Forrest, hello, OK. I am Solomon Ray. I am the real Solomon Ray, not the one that puts stuff up on iTunes. I don’t know what that is. My friends call me Solo, and I do make music. My church just put out a Christmas thing that is actual Christmas music made by humans. So I do this. I am real, Forrest. If you really want to get rid of this AI guy, if we collab and put out a song with the actual Solomon Ray guy, me, dude, the AI thing is history. There’s no way he can recover from this. I don’t know. I think it would be pretty cool.
The fake Solomon Ray’s most popular song to date appears to be “Find Your Rest.” It can be found here on Spotify, where it has been downloaded more than 800,000 times.
This is a reference to the story of Balaam‘s donkey found in Numbers 22:21-39.