Contemporary culture, an arena colored by identity politics, fueled by social media outrage, and undermined by gung-ho commercialism, we care hugely about this question. We are encultured to judge businesses and creators first by where they come from (their heritage), then by where they are heading (their goals), and finally by what they are doing (their product). Any misalignment between cultural product, cultural heritage, and cultural objective, sirens in our ultra-sensitized ape brain start blaring. VETOED. BANNED FROM GAME. Now, as the frontier world of artificial intelligence (AI) collides with creativity and art, we enter a new playing field. A field where the old rules of the game no longer seem to fit. When a cultural product is created/designed by an artificial intelligence system, who really "owns" that cultural content? Who is really in control? When a commercial misstep is taken, a cultural clanger committed, to whom should we direct our vitriol? Man, or machine? Is outrage even a reasonable reaction? To search for answers, I want to dissect a music industry scandal that erupted in the past few months between an artist and a management company. Between a virtual artist called FN Meka, and their very real management company — Factory New. It is impossible to discuss this case without venturing briefly into identity politics — specifically race and cultural appropriation between races. Exactly who created FN Meka, a virtual artist who very clearly borrows stylistically and artistically from black-dominant cultures, is a key point of tension in the debate. I however want to focus the lens on a different, but equally significant dimension: that of AI design and ethics. And using a toolkit of music psychology, AI design thinking, and ethical philosophy, propose a new way of thinking about, and safeguarding against, AI-generated cultural crimes. With the artist having recently announced a record label deal with music industry giant Capitol Records, black-led activist industry group Industry Blackout posted a slam message on Instagram, calling out the artist’s management company for gross cultural misappropriation, and demanding that Capitol Records cancel the artist’s contract — which the label proceeded to immediately do. As always, too little too late. Social media, predictably, blew up. The story lit the fuse of longstanding grievances in the music industry about artist exploitation — due to a secondary revelation in the aftermath that Factory New had not paid or compensated the black artist who wrote and recorded the lyrics and music for FN Meka — and cultural appropriation by big business. Moreover, the current context of A-list human rap artists Young Thug and Gunna being arrested and tried under RICO charges in response to their extreme lyrics (and related actions), sat very awkwardly indeed with some of FN Meka’s more explicit lyrics and visuals. Overall, let’s just say the whole affair stinks.