CEO is tricked into adopting AI-generated song as the new "company anthem" causing frustration among other workers: 'This needs to get to the marketing team so they can send it to the investors and use it to attract clients'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Dec 26, 2025 12:00 PM EST

We've probably all heard of or experienced the old adage of having to convert something to a PDF for our boss; a disconnect in the understanding of technology between generations in the workplace is never reflected in earning potential or status. Somehow, there is neither a barrier for older generations being promoted into higher management roles, nor a way for younger generations to leap ahead in their careers. 

And to what level should a familiarity with the latest, or even 10 or 20-year-old, technology be a barrier to one's advancement in the workplace? I think the answer to that lies in the ability of leadership to recognize its importance and impact.

You simply can not prioritize that which you don't understand, recognize, or are not aware of. 

But this is true for other areas of skill; while there might be a million 20-year-olds to 30-year-olds who can help convert a PDF, the decades of knowledge and experience your manager possesses aren't quite so easily replaced.

Where is this rant going? It almost sounds like I'm saying that those who learn to use the latest technological tools like AI will become more important in the workplace. 

This isn't really what I'm trying to say.

I really think that AI is different than any advancement in technology that has come before it; most technology until this point has made creative processes faster or more accessible. But the latest advancements in generative content are the first steps in replacing the creative act altogether. Replacing the creative act itself makes it more than a tool. It makes it something else entirely. 

Still, there are aspects of Large Language Models (let's call AI what it really is) that are tool-like and can help make mundane tasks faster, the way any tool should. 

Without getting too much into that debate, it is an important skill to learn, develop, and continue to explore and to educate oneself on what the current ends of the constraints of technology are. You owe it to yourself not be fooled, to have the wool pulled over your eyes into thinking that something is real when it's not. 

Like how your older relatives in the 2000s and 2010s saw that barely passable Photoshop and thought that it was a real event, We are entering into a new era where some will hail the most basic regurgitated AI creations as a revelation, where, to the trained eye, they are nothing more than a mockery of reality and true artistic creation.

You, too, will soon find yourself in situations such as in this story; gritting your teeth as a no-effort generative creation is lauded and someone is congratulated for their relative lack of effort with apparent and sloppy results.

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  • 01

    "The CEO of our company got duped by an A.I song an employee made and now we have a new, "company anthem.""

    I don't want to give too many specifics since I have an NDA but I work for advanced sector biotech company with around 1,200 employees operating across 4 states.
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 02
    An employee listens to and sings to music at his desk
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 03
    At the end of the year the CEO spends a week going to every facility to tour it. This year the top managers are escorting him around. No one is supposed to look at the CEO or speak to him unless he speaks to us and we are supposed to just do our jobs normally while he walks around. Out
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 04
    of nowhere when he's by my cubicle the 50 year old minimum wage janitor walks up to him while the managers are trying to motion him to leave and shoves his phone in the CEOs face and starts playing a, "company anthem" he said he made.
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 05
    It's one of those A.I generated songs where you give it a topic and it creates lyrics and vocals and music for it. Our CEO was immediately blown away and shushes the managers when they try to say anything so he can listen to the whole song. He starts asking the janitor where his recording studio is and who
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 06
    he got to do the guitar riffs for it because he loved the base and starts calling over other senior management asking them to listen to the song. The guy of course doesn't tell him it's A.l and says he recorded it himself at his home studio and is just like, "Oh I know some people." When the CEO asks who sang the vocals for it. He
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 07
    also shows him hip hop and country music versions of the anthem which all have completely different lyrics and voices but the CEO doesn't seem to notice and just talking about how impressed he is with it and how this needs to get to the marketing team so they can send it to the investors and use it to attract clients.
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 08
    Today an email went out to every employee that included an mp3 of the song saying its going to be the companies new employee anthem and is part of some workplace pride initiative they are doing now to boost morale. There is nothing that could make me less proud to work here than this.
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 09
    ShadowGryphon No one is supposed to look at the CEO What?!
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 10
    Devil_of_Fizzlefield We need an update for how this is handled when it's inevitably brought to the CEO's attention that the song is Al. Someone, somewhere, in his circle of influence is going to realize it and have the gall to tell him.
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 11
    MarkHafer I dislike how you are trying to quantify the janitors worth by clarifying that he is a "minimum wage" employee as if this wouldn't be equally as infuriating if it was one of your coworkers
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 12
    DarkStrik3WasTaken This is the kind of stuff that makes me cringe in regards to Al. We are developing it to speed up workflows, assist in information retrieval, etc (at least just LLMs). However, when it gets used to replace human creativity, it just feels wrong and soulless.
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 13
    FeverDreamingg This is lowkey hilarious. Big ups to that janitor lol. I don't really get C-suite execs that think they're above talking to employees. Last year I was at my work's holiday party. Me and a couple of friends got approached by this middle aged dude and lady that looked sort of familiar. We wish each other happy holidays and they're like "do you want a picture with us?" And we're all like "No? We're good thanks". They seemed weirded out and bugged off. Turns out it was our CEO and CFO
    via Fast-Bell-340
  • 14
    Specific_Delay_5364 Your CEO didn't get "duped" CEO's crypto bros and C-Suite officers are the only ones who think Al is actually the future and will replace all employees thus maximizing profits. So he thinks this proves his point it's why he probably adopted it
    via Fast-Bell-340

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workplace discussion employment issues jobs ceo employees Horrible Bosses workplace story employment
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