The AI-generated Christmas album given out by billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Dominik Bindl/Getty Images; Courtesy Image Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text The holidays are long over, but a privileged few members of Silicon Valley's elite still have a special keepsake to remember them by. In lieu of a Christmas card this year, billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and his wife, Michelle, sent out a vinyl pressing of "original" Christmas tunes titled 12 Gifts of Christmas: Untold Stories of the Holiday Season. Rambling wasn't lucky enough to be on the list of recipients, but one of our rich techy friends was, and he enthusiastically pulled the record out for us. From the moment he opened the jacket, the whole thing gave off a whiff of slop. Everything from the tacky, nostalgic cover art to the lifeless mimicry of Christmas classics to the bafflingly uninspired lyrics screams AI. Not that Hoffman makes any effort to hide it. The entrepreneur, an unabashed techno-optimist whose latest book is titled Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future, boasted of his project in an Instagram post last month: "Don't buy gifts," he said. "Generate them." He continued: "AI ... changes what the bounds of imagination to possibility are. I don't know that anyone has created AI Christmas music yet, and I can do that." Related Stories Business Gus Wenner Launches VC Firm, Bets That Social Show 'Track Star' Is "MTV of Today" Music "Long Live Women in Music": Chappell Roan, Chaka Khan, Joni Mitchell and More Gather for Resonator Awards Among the tracks are a rockabilly song about Elf on the Shelf, a doo-wop song about ugly sweaters and, somewhat provocatively, a barbershop quartet ditty about whether we should be saying "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." The result is just about as cheery as you'd expect for something generated by robot from the cuisinarted mush of beloved Christmas music past. Still, perhaps Hoffman's boldest assumption was not that his fellow futurists might actually enjoy this stuff but that they would own a turntable. *** Also in Rambling Reporter: Mere hours after the killing of Alex Pretti, the renegade collective VJayBombs projected a scathing response on a federal detention center, which soon went viral. This story appeared in the Jan. 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up labor Production Workers at Big D.C. Concert Venues Vote to Unionize (Exclusive) Representation WNBA Star Sophie Cunningham Signs With 3 Arts Sports YouTube Gus Wenner Launches VC Firm, Bets That Social Show 'Track Star' Is "MTV of Today" YouTube Dhar Mann Named NFL's "Chief Kindness Officer" As League Kicks Off Super Bowl Creator Blitz (Exclusive) Time Darren Aronofsky Has Reconstructed the Revolutionary War Using AI hollywood AMC Theatres Secures Bondholders' Relief For New Debt Refinancing labor Production Workers at Big D.C. Concert Venues Vote to Unionize (Exclusive) Representation WNBA Star Sophie Cunningham Signs With 3 Arts Sports YouTube Gus Wenner Launches VC Firm, Bets That Social Show 'Track Star' Is "MTV of Today" YouTube Dhar Mann Named NFL's "Chief Kindness Officer" As League Kicks Off Super Bowl Creator Blitz (Exclusive) Time Darren Aronofsky Has Reconstructed the Revolutionary War Using AI hollywood AMC Theatres Secures Bondholders' Relief For New Debt Refinancing