Twelve years ago, I created a musical track called Cyber Me Baby using, ironically, full computer assistance and virtual instruments to rescore Max Fleischer’s 1938 cartoon All’s Fair at the Fair. Note, Fleischer produced the Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons. Given my current work advocating for human review of AI systems, the irony wasn’t lost on me then, and it’s even sharper now.
Watch my creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlOPeDSDO9w&ab_channel=ElliotZimmerman
Original 1938 cartoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAFqAbrPKxQ&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
The 1938 Crystal Ball
Fleischer’s All’s Fair at the Fair follows rural couple Elmer and Miranda through a futuristic World’s Fair featuring automated marvels: machines that build houses instantly, serve drinks, give haircuts, and provide dance partners[1][2]. Sound familiar? The cartoon’s cheerful automation mirrors today’s AI promises, to-wit, efficiency, convenience, and wonder. But even in 1938, the implicit question lurked: what happens when machines do everything and humans do nothing?
The film is now public domain[3], allowing legal remixing, much like how AI systems remix existing content, sometimes without proper attribution or review.
The Human-in-the-Loop Soundtrack
I rewrote the soundtrack—replacing orchestral warmth with a cyber-infused pulse and the chant “Cyber Me Baby.” What once felt nostalgic now warns of a world slipping into automation. I was sounding the alarm before anyone “knew they were robots.”
The Legal Reality Check
As we increasingly use AI for contract drafting, case prediction, and statute summarization, we’ve seen the dangers firsthand. AI hallucinates case law, misinterprets jurisdictions, and produces plausible but false legal arguments[4]. Without human validation, we risk malpractice and injustice, much like Elmer and Miranda’s delight with automated services until novelty overwhelms function.
The Terminator and The Skynet Progression
The cartoon presents automation as harmless helper, but the following is a possible logical path:
- Automation (self-serving restaurants)
- Autonomy (AI scheduling without oversight)
- Self-optimization (AI modifying its own code)
- Loss of control (AI deciding human intervention is inefficient)
Every unreviewed AI deployment inches us closer to this cascade. In law, unchecked AI could fabricate precedent or generate biased recommendations. The Terminator isn’t science fiction. I’s a cautionary tale about abdicating responsibility to machines[5].
The Bottom Line
All’s Fair at the Fair ends with our couple driving off in their “gas buggy,” blissfully unaware of deeper implications. Today’s AI enthusiasm mirrors this blind embrace. Technology should provide the canvas, but only humans can provide the song, and hopefully with judgment, creativity, and conscience.
For those navigating the AI revolution: Never deploy AI without human review. The future depends on it.
P.S. Yes, the irony of using AI-assisted tools to create music while warning about AI oversight is intentional. Sometimes the best way to understand a tool is to use it… but very carefully.
References: [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAFqAbrPKxQ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All%27s_Fair_at_the_Fair [3] Internet Archive Public Domain Collections [4] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029856/ [5] https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disney-at-the-1939-worlds-fair/