Tyga Fires Back After Doja Cat Slams His AI-Assisted Album $tarface: ‘I Love Doja, but She Made a Demonic Album’

Tyga has responded after Doja Cat publicly criticized his use of artificial intelligence on his latest album, $tarface, reigniting a wider debate about the role of AI in modern music.

The exchange began on Wednesday, Aug. 12, when Doja Cat, born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, addressed the subject during a social media livestream. Although no one had directly asked her about Tyga, the 30-year-old rapper and singer decided to offer her opinion anyway.

“Nobody asked me anything about Tyga, but I felt like saying this,” Doja said.

She then delivered a characteristically blunt assessment of his creative decision.

“Tyga is a penis for making an AI album.”

The remark quickly attracted attention because Doja and Tyga are not strangers. The two rappers have previously worked together on multiple songs, including the 2019 remix of Doja’s breakthrough track “Juicy” and the 2022 collaboration “Freaky Deaky.”

Tyga, 36, whose real name is Michael Ray Stevenson, soon responded to Doja’s criticism during an appearance on TMZ Live.

Rather than escalating the disagreement into a serious personal feud, Tyga answered with his own pointed joke.

“Listen, I love Doja, but she made a demonic album,” he said of her recent work. “But I still love her.”

His response reflected the unusual tone of the exchange: both artists were openly critical of each other’s creative choices, yet Tyga made it clear that he still had affection and respect for his former collaborator.

At the center of the controversy is Tyga’s decision to incorporate artificial intelligence into the production of $tarface, an album that represents a significant departure from the sound for which he has traditionally been known.

According to Tyga, AI was used specifically as a production tool to help create elements of the project’s distinctive sonic identity, including synthesizers and guitar sounds inspired by the 1980s.

The rapper has emphasized that the album was not simply generated by artificial intelligence.

During his TMZ Live appearance, Tyga said that he personally wrote the lyrics and performed the vocals. He maintained that AI was used only as part of the production process rather than as a replacement for his songwriting or performance.

That distinction appears central to his defense of the project.

Tyga previously discussed his approach in an interview with VIBE, acknowledging that he expected some listeners and musicians to react negatively to his decision to openly embrace the technology.

“It’s supposed to give you an experience and a feeling. But we definitely used AI as a [tool],” he explained.

Tyga argued that artificial intelligence should be viewed as another technological development that musicians can incorporate into their creative process.

“And I know people are going to be mad about me saying this, but it’s where technology is going,” he said.

He then compared the controversy surrounding AI with the initial resistance to Auto-Tune.

“It’s no different than when AutoTune came out,” Tyga continued. “Some people were opposed to it, but real artists took it and used it.”

His comments reflect one of the central disagreements currently developing within the music industry.

For supporters, artificial intelligence can function as another instrument or production technology, giving musicians access to new sounds, arrangements and creative possibilities.

Critics, however, have raised concerns about originality, authorship and the possibility that AI-generated material could eventually replace or diminish the contributions of human musicians, producers and songwriters.

Doja Cat’s criticism places her firmly on the skeptical side of that debate, at least when it comes to Tyga’s latest project.

Her comments were especially notable because the two artists have an established collaborative history.

Their first major collaboration came through the remix of “Juicy,” one of the songs that helped accelerate Doja Cat’s rise in mainstream music.

Tyga later appeared with her again on “Freaky Deaky,” released in 2022.

Despite their previous musical partnership, Doja apparently had no hesitation about criticizing Tyga’s decision to incorporate AI into $tarface.

Tyga, for his part, has presented the album as part of a broader attempt to reinvent himself creatively.

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE in July, he explained that after more than 15 years in the music business, he no longer feels obligated to remain inside the boundaries of the sound that initially made him successful.

“I just feel like there’s no rules anymore,” Tyga said.

“You don’t have to put yourself in a box on what things have to be creatively. I’ve been in the game for 15 years-plus. So, after a while, you just got to try different stuff.”

That desire for experimentation appears to have become the guiding principle behind $tarface.

Rather than presenting the project simply as another Tyga album, the rapper has developed an alter ego around the concept.

“This is the first project that people are seeing that’s completely different than other things that I’ve done,” he told PEOPLE.

“This character, $TARFACE, is a completely separate artist, completely separate aesthetic and everything.”

The concept allows Tyga to distance the project from his established musical identity and explore sounds that might not traditionally be associated with his catalog.

The 1980s-inspired synthesizers, guitars and broader production style form part of that reinvention.

The use of AI appears to be another component of the experiment.

Tyga’s willingness to publicly acknowledge the technology is also significant at a time when the use of artificial intelligence in entertainment remains controversial.

Rather than attempting to minimize its involvement, he has openly confirmed that AI contributed to certain musical elements on the album.

At the same time, he has repeatedly drawn a line between AI-assisted production and the core elements of his identity as a performer.

According to Tyga, the technology did not write his verses or perform his vocals.

He continues to describe himself as the songwriter and performer behind the project, with AI serving as one of the tools used to construct its sound.

That explanation has not prevented criticism.

Doja Cat’s livestream remark shows how strongly some artists react to the increasing presence of AI in music, particularly when the technology becomes part of a commercially released album by an established performer.

Yet Tyga appears comfortable with the controversy.

His comparison with Auto-Tune suggests that he believes resistance to AI may eventually follow a familiar pattern: a new technology arrives, musicians criticize it, and then artists gradually find ways to incorporate it into mainstream production.

Whether that comparison proves accurate remains uncertain.

Auto-Tune became a defining feature of modern pop, hip-hop and R&B after initially generating controversy over authenticity and vocal ability.

Artificial intelligence introduces a much broader set of questions because it can potentially generate not only sounds but also voices, compositions, lyrics and entire performances.

That makes the current debate considerably more complicated.

For Tyga, however, the issue appears relatively straightforward.

After more than a decade and a half in the music industry, he wants the freedom to experiment without being restricted by expectations about what a Tyga record is supposed to sound like.

For Doja Cat, his use of AI apparently crossed a creative line worth calling out publicly.

Still, Tyga’s response suggests that the disagreement has not destroyed their personal relationship.

“I love Doja,” he said, even while returning the criticism by describing her own recent work as “demonic.”

For now, representatives for both Doja Cat and Tyga have been contacted by PEOPLE for additional comment.

The exchange may ultimately prove less significant as a celebrity feud than as another example of the growing tension surrounding artificial intelligence in music.

As artists increasingly experiment with AI-assisted production, questions over where creative tools end and artistic replacement begins are likely to become more difficult to avoid.

Tyga has clearly chosen his position.

For him, AI is not the artist.

It is simply another tool — and on $tarface, he decided to use it.