Nile Rodgers defends the AI video for his new Christmas song

Nile Rodgers defended the AI-made video for his new version of "The Christmas Song" on November 5, after fans objected to the project in Instagram comments.

Rolling Stone reported the exchange on November 5. Rodgers, the Chic co-founder and producer behind David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Madonna's "Like a Virgin," had shared an "AI capture" of the project earlier in the week. "This AI capture was very thorough and I'm so excited about the finished project," he wrote on Instagram, saying the idea came from seeing the Eagles at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Comments pushed back quickly. One person told him there were better ways to preserve his legacy. Rodgers replied that they should wait to see it before judging, and that they were imagining the worst instead of the best.

He posted photo stills from the project on Wednesday, and the criticism continued.

What is the "Christmas Song" video?

The project is a new video for "The Christmas Song," Rodgers's 2020 charity collaboration with the singer Rebecca Ferguson. In a second Instagram post he wrote that the team was rushing to get it ready by November 20, and that he produced the song to give sick children a little joy during the holiday season.

He answered the backlash in the comments, describing a hands-on process. "We created everything. Mood boards, story boards and did it the same way we'd do a film. The AI did what we told it to do and we painstakingly created every second you'll see on the screen," he wrote, adding that "if this were a traditional film it would've cost about $100,000." Rolling Stone reports no budget for the video; the $100,000 comparison is Rodgers's own.

To another commenter he wrote that "it's somewhat hypocritical to say you're anti AI and you're using it all the time because it makes your life convenient." He added that he respects all opinions.

Rodgers has defended the technology before. Rolling Stone notes that in 2024 he told Euronews he saw the potential of AI in music as "fantastic," while calling it "horrible" to use AI-generated vocals to copy another artist's sound.

For creators, this is the fight most people with an AI shot in the timeline already know. Rodgers says the work was directed, storyboarded and finished by hand, which is the answer makers tend to reach for first. The replies under his posts track the same line as the wider debate, and the cost claim is the part most likely to draw scrutiny.

The video is due by November 20. Rodgers is posting clips and stills from it on Instagram as the team finishes.