I’ve noticed a quote circulating the dingy forums of the internet recently that reads something like “AI is here to help artists with tedious tasks not help tedious people create art”. A statement that would resonate deeply with me if not for all the tedious people utilising AI to create piles of what is now unaffectionately dubbed as “AI slop”.
A small saving grace for most artists is that AI has seemingly been predominantly adopted by the right, a political ideology not exactly renowned for their appreciation of art. Need an example? Set your phone to incognito and take a look at the current president of the “free worlds” twitter feed and indulge in an nauseating afternoon. You’re welcome.
That being said the rise of artists both new and established utilising AI has become a concerningly prevalent thing. Most notably of recent history is legendary producer Timberland. Once respected producer and now avid defender of AI and going as far as to debut what he thinks as the first AI superstar to thankfully a pretty dire reception.
I recently watched an interview with guitarist/producer aficionado Tim Henson of Polyphia fame claiming that the future of music production is similar to the dawn of sampling. However, its no longer a game of who can implement the best sample but now a question of who can write the best prompt.
Perhaps it’s down to me recently turning 30, so I think I am officially past the threshold of a young person and into the realms of the old and crusty but I firmly disagree with this statement. At least looking at the way in which AI is currently evolving. Maybe its the tens of thousands of hours I and so many other artists have put into their craft but for me an artist who masters the craft of putting paint to canvas is infinitely more valuable and inspiring than an “artist” who tells the brush what to do in a couple of sentences.
Yes, these are truly scary times for us fellow artists and art lovers and the brutal and honest truth about AI and the future of art is that pandoras box has been opened and now want as you may, there’s no closing it. I predict that within the next decade there will be concerts for AI artists as it becomes a normalised thing and honestly as someone who’s played live music for over 20 years this particular concept doesn’t actually bother me.
When I see a live act for me its the imperfections of the performance that makes it an amazing experience. The botched notes of a passionate vocal performance, the guitarist battling with the squeal of feedback, the drummer that has to grab a fresh pair of sticks as the previous one slips through their sweaty palms. Imperfection is a concept AI can’t duplicate outside of ugly artifacting audio and if it were to attempt to emulate imperfection would be seen as fraudulent by artists and unnecessary and jarring for causal gig goers.
So I suppose this is what it comes down to for me. AI is a WILDLY powerful tool that is capable of amazing and terrible things and I honestly believe we have only seen the tip of the iceberg of its true potential for better or worse. As someone who is generally against it I hope and pray that one day I will be one of the many boomers that history looks back on as being out of touch and afraid of new things and that it will help artists create new and amazing music and art because the alternative is not a world I would want my hypothetical grandchildren to grow up in.
We’ve put literal blood sweat and tears into learning our instrument and creating visual art and doing this is something that has brought me so much joy but more than that it has taught me discipline, dedication and also an understanding and appreciation of art and human expression which, in the age of instant gratification I fear will become obsolete.
This may come across as a huge surprise after this apparent tirade against AI but I am not fully “anti AI”. I’m anti capitalism. And the incessant greed of capitalism is the fuel that turns the soulless wheels of current AI. For every person utilising AI to find a break though for a terminal illness there’ll be a dead eyed drone trying to find a concoction to bring pain and death to whoever brings the powers that be the most money or political gain as possible.
This is obviously an extreme implementation of AI but I really think it carries over to AI’s use as a whole.
So here are my final thoughts…
So if you decide to utilise AI how will you do so? As I said earlier, pandoras box is open. Will you use AI as an ally to heighten your art and creativity or will you succumb to using it as the music equivalent of fast fashion? Cheap, soulless and inethical. Will you choose to not use it at all?
Either way, remember to have fun because life is incredibly short but art lives on forever.