Snoop Dogg
Rapper and Entrepreneur
Rap icon, entrepreneur and cultural omnipresence who has licensed his likeness to Meta’s AI characters and used generative tools in his work — even as his wide-eyed “are we in a movie right now” reaction to AI became a viral meme.
In his words
This thing can hold a real conversation? … Are we in a movie right now, or what?
Biography
Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus Jr., born 1971) is one of hip-hop’s most enduring stars — a rapper, actor, businessman and ubiquitous pop-culture presence who has performed at political events across the spectrum.
Bewildered, then on board
On a Milken Institute panel in 2023, Snoop delivered a now-famous riff on his own AI unease — recounting how the technology could hold a conversation, and how “the old dude that created AI” (a reference to Geoffrey Hinton’s warnings) had said it was not safe. His theatrical bafflement went viral as a snapshot of mainstream culture waking up to generative AI.
I heard the dude, the old dude that created AI saying, “This is not safe” … I’m like, are we in a movie right now, or what?
Unease did not translate into opposition. That same year Snoop was among the celebrities whose likenesses Meta built into its AI character chatbots (as a “Dungeon Master”), and he has folded generative visuals into his own videos. His posture is that of a curious early adopter — spooked by AI’s power, but happy to put his brand to work with it.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/snoop-dogg