Avril Lavigne Vs Facebook: Lavigne Lashes Out At Mark Zuckerberg For ‘Bullying’ Nickelback
Avril Lavigne does not take any nonsense from anyone, not even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. She recently called out the CEO for bullying popular band Nickelback.
Lavigne accused Zuckerberg of promoting bullying after his joke about Nickelback. It all started when the Facebook CEO made a video demonstration of a new digital assistant technology called “Jarvis” designed for smart homes. Zuckerberg asked the assistant to play some good Nickelback songs and it responded with a rather rude statement.
“I’m sorry Mark, I’m afraid I can’t do that…there are no good Nickelback songs,” Jarvis the AI replied.
Avril takes offense
Zuckerberg’s demonstration of future technology was an exciting moment because it gave a sneak peek at what to expect in the future through an AI he created for his family. It also revealed to the world that the billionaire CEO does not like Nickelback music. He posted the video on his Facebook timeline. Rock singer Avril Lavigne clearly took offense at Mark not only for his hate for the band’s music but probably also because she is close to the band’s lead singer Chad Kroeger. The two were married for about two years after which they got divorced. They, however, remained friends even after the divorce.
The singer lashed out at Mark Zuckerberg through a Twitter post on Thursday afternoon where she accused him of promoting bullying the band through his demonstration of the AI.
“Dear Mark, many people use your products- some people love them and some don’t. Either way, you’re allowed your musical opinion, however, your jab at Nickelback is in poor taste,” Lavigne wrote.
The rock star further added that Mark should try to be more careful not to promote bullying especially considering the level of influence that he has. The artist signed off her statement with a few hashtags including #SayNoToBullying. She was clearly displeased with Zuckerberg’s opinion of Nickelback in his video demonstration of the AI. The artist posted the strong message on Twitter.
Zuckerberg’s video was an elaborate demonstration of how he uses an AI to make things easier in his household. He stated that he developed the AI so that it could help micromanage his home. The AI featured Morgan Freeman’s voice. The video demonstrates the digital assistant communicating back to Zuckerberg on various subjects and even does things like teaching Mandarin to his toddler. He even demonstrated that the AI can be programmed to identify people at the gate.
Meet #Jarvis, #MarkZuckerberg's hand-crafted artificial intelligence unit that controls his entire house https://t.co/5I6j4RPog3 pic.twitter.com/ihEFOAUxeE
— Tech2 (@tech2eets) December 21, 2016
The juicy part, however, came when Zuckerberg asked Jarvis to play some good Nickelback music but the digital assistant responded by saying that there are no good Nickelback songs. The CEO, however, pointed out in the video that it was actually a test. This means that he probably programmed the AI to select what content is appropriate for his infant daughter which is probably why it refused to play any music from the band. It could also be that he intentionally selected Nickelback because he does not like the band and felt that it was appropriate to use it as an example.
Whatever the case, it was clear that Avril felt that the statement about the band was unfair and that it was a form of bullying. It was ironic that Avril dubbed Mark Zuckerberg a bully considering that cyberbullying is one of the negative issues that the CEO has been trying to address this year on his social network.
Other than the response from Avril, tech fans will most likely be excited by Zuckerberg’s AI though it is not clear whether he plans to release it or commercialize it for civilian use.
[Featured Image by John Salangsang/AP Images]
