If there’s one thing that AI can’t possibly replicate even with its amazing tech, it’s the human art of being creative. Just like every other artist that doesn’t agree with the use of AI, musicians have also voiced out their opinion and concerns about artificial intelligence.
Sting, the frontman of the English new wave rock band The Police, recently said in an interview that musicians are facing “a battle” to defend their work against songs done by artificial intelligence.
“The building blocks of music belong to us, to human beings. That’s going to be a battle we all have to fight in the next couple of years: defending our human capital against AI.”
This statement comes after the rise of music done through AI tech and some artists using the said technology for their own music: French DJ David Guetta had “cloned” rapper Eminem’s voice in one of his tracks last February, and a fake duet with the voices of The Weeknd and Drake was pulled from streaming services just this April.
The multi-awarded English musician, who is also now a Fellow of The Ivors Academy, also compared AI to CGI, saying that “it doesn’t impress [him] at all.” “I get immediately bored when I see a computer-generated image. I imagine I will feel the same way about AI making music. Maybe for electronic dance music, it works. But for songs, you know, expressing emotions, I don’t think I will be moved by it.”
A movement called the “Human Artistry Campaign” is a product of the record industry standing against artificial intelligence. The group had warned that AI companies are violating copyright rules through their training of their software to make commercial music.
While copyright offices around the world don’t necessarily have a clause stating that AI-generated works can be protected (by law), the US Copyright Office had just recently ordered that AI art (music, written works, artworks, etc.) cannot be copyrighted because “it is not the product of human authorship.”
Some artists have also spoken in favor of AI technology, such as the Pet Shop Boys’ frontman Neil Tennant, who has suggested that AI “could help” musicians overcome writers’ block, and American multi-instrumentalist Rick Beato, who compared AI to the appearance of the file-sharing website “Napster”.
“Technology never moves backwards…people are not going to stop using AI. They’re going to use it more and more and more. The only question is what are the labels doing to do about it, what are the artists going to do about it, and what are the fans going to do about it?”
What are your thoughts on the use of AI for music and other forms of art? Are you in favor of it or no?
Other POP! stories that you might like:
Rebel Wilson to star and direct the film adaptation of ‘The Deb’ musical
Taylor Swift announces collaborations with Ice Spice and Lana Del Rey
Miami Zoo responds to accusations of ‘deranged treatment’ of its lone Kiwi bird
Filipinos react to TeleRadyo’s impending shutdown, reminisce about time spent watching the channel
Here’s how you can protect yourselves from e-wallet/online bank scammers.