Generative AI, which can create increasingly convincing photos, videos and audio, has been lauded by some as a breakthrough creative tool while others have denounced it as a dangerous instrument of disinformation and plagiarism.
One creative field where AI has become more prevalent (and controversial) is music, and the news cycle reflects this on a regular basis. Earlier this year, Denton trio The Infamists struggled to have an unauthorized, AI-generated album removed from their Spotify page. Though the distribution platform cooperated in getting the album removed, the band will likely never know who was behind the fraudulent record.
“It’s really fast and easy to make AI music,” vocalist and guitarist Riley Rogers told the Observer. “And if you can find a distributor that will just upload it for cheap onto Spotify, and they're not a good distributor that does, you know, the vetting they're supposed to do, it’s really not hard to do.”
This year’s ongoing feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar escalated in April when the former released a diss track that used the AI-generated voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg to mock Lamar. Shakur’s estate issued a cease-and-desist order and the track was pulled from Instagram.
The biggest blow to AI’s role in the arts is its association with music that sounds fake and derivative. “This sounds like AI” is a diss that's tossed around a lot these days.
MouseQuake, a Dallas-based producer and audio engineer, has worked with the likes of Nas, UGK and Lil Wayne. You could say he knows talent when he sees it, and he doesn't see it in AI.
"I feel it's basically a license to steal from the talented by the talentless," he says. "Music is created by human beings."
Mousequake has dabbled in AI before and says he had to correct the program's work.
"I had to input more of truth to accentuate what the AI required," he says.
Kameron Ross, a Dallas-based country singer and songwriter, is skeptical of AI music's authenticity.
“As much as AI has helped different areas, businesses and the world, I feel it crosses a line with music and creativity,” Ross says. “There are singers and songwriters that have put their lives into their craft, storytelling and creativity. I feel like an advanced program takes away from that.”
Ross believes that AI is not only a poor replacement for human creativity, but that the way these programs are “taught” may constitute plagiarism. Since the programs have to be fed pre-existing pieces of art before generating new ones, all AI content is made up of bits and pieces of the work of real artists. This is almost always done without permission or credit.
“A talent like someone’s voice, thoughts or personal feelings through writing or singing a song is taken away from us. It takes away from that authenticity,” he says. “And many times, the AI is learning what it does by using what exists out in the world and was created by humans while taking opportunities away from humans.”
Mousequake echoes both of Ross' concerns.
"AI is being used effectively in cloning the great artists of the past in ways that were never meant to be," he says. "Music will always be dictated by feeling, and AI can never duplicate. But those who do not have that God-given ability are able to steal with a free license."
Take a Sad Song and Make It Better
Proponents of AI argue that the technology is also being utilized in well-received and groundbreaking ways that assist artists rather than compete with or steal from them, including great artists of the past. Last year, the surviving members of The Beatles used AI to release a “new” song, “Now and Then,” that featured all four members decades after the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison.Ahead of the single's release, representatives emphasized that AI was not used to generate the voices of Lennon and Harrison. Rather, the technology was used to clean up an old demo made by the full band and to create a polished song to release as a single.
Josh Antonuccio, associate professor at The Ohio University’s School of Media Arts and Studies, has cited “Now and Then” as an example of AI’s positive potential in music.
“It is a toolset that is far beyond the scope of anything we have seen in human innovation to this point,” Antonuccio told OHIO News. “The Beatles story is indicative of change for a lot of things in music, and that change will be across the board in creative industries."
Dallas-based producer, musician and writer Valenti Funk also sees the potential in AI, as well as pitfalls such as plagiarism and the incentive to cut corners.
“AI concerns me, yet I love it,” he says. “There was a time I felt concern only for the visual artist. [...] Being a musician, I thought I was in ‘the clear’ and AI wouldn't be something to be concerned about. Well, now I absolutely am concerned. It's gotten super advanced in a short period of time.”
Despite concerns about the technology’s progression, Valenti has enjoyed using AI to take apart and study the work of his favorite artists.
“Being the music nerd that I am and not having access to actual session files from my favorite artists and bands to listen to out of curiosity, it is a weird dream come true to be able to listen to all the individual tracks' instrumentals without having access to the original studio sessions,” he says.
Jah Born, a Grammy Award-winning producer and collaborator of Erykah Badu, is optimistic about AI. He considers it a tool that makes music more accessible to novice creators.
"Taking an open-minded, creative approach to using AI in music creation can empower the amateur artist or producer who’s not too musically inclined as their professional, experienced peers," he says.
While he agrees that AI may pose a threat to certain jobs, he also believes that creators are capable of rolling with the punches.
"As technology evolves, the music community will have to adapt and learn to use AI as a tool," he says. "We may not have a choice."
Taylor Rae, the vocalist of electronic pop outfit Zhora and her new solo project Taylor Tones, views AI as a collaborator off which to bounce ideas.
"I've used AI to help overcome writer's block and create new ideas," she says. "It's been a great way to spark inspiration when I'm feeling stuck. For example, I might use AI to suggest lyrics or melodies, but I always make sure to put my own personal touch on the final product. It's like having a collaborative partner who never runs out of ideas."
Rae is wary of AI's potential for plagiarism and says artists must put their own creativity and original ideas first instead of relying on AI as a crutch.
"Artists who use AI can still be very credible, as long as they are transparent about their process and contribute their own creativity to the final work," she says. "It's important to navigate this carefully to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Transparency is key."
Perhaps the most popular and universally agreed upon way to use AI is parody. Just as it’s fair game for comedians like “Weird Al” Yankovic to lift the melodies of popular songs for a clearly discernible parody, many feel that the same goes for AI-generated celebrity voices.@thereiruinedit Y’all asked for it 🐸 #snoopfrogg @Snoop Dogg ♬ original sound - There I Ruined It
Dustin Ballard is one such proponent of this opinion. His project, There I Ruined It, creates comedic musical mashups such as Kermit the Frog singing Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” to the tune of “The Rainbow Connection.”
Others may have executed this joke by impersonating Kermit themselves, but Ballard uses AI to assist with his impression. The technology is helpful, but he hardly considers it a shortcut.
“There’s a misconception that AI is lazy. I still have to sing the underlying vocals and impersonate the artist for it to sound believable,” he says. “The AI is just an extra step at the end of a 95%-human process.”
In his opinion, there’s not much difference between his work and more established forms of parody. It’s fair game as long as everyone’s in on the joke.
“Mimicking an artist’s voice with AI isn’t much different than using Photoshop to comically alter a photo, which few would consider unethical,” Ballard says. “Nobody is misled into thinking that Hank Williams actually sang ‘Straight Outta Compton.’ [...] Outside the realm of a clearly marked parody, I think it’s certainly unethical to steal someone’s voice for profit.”
Even as an artist who deals heavily in AI, Ballard is still apprehensive about its future.
“It’s hard as a musician to get excited about a future where we may not be able to distinguish between real and 100%-artificial songs — and that future is coming,” he says. “Great music innovates and pushes the art form, and that will always require musicians.”
