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Artificial intelligence has turned the technological world on its head and has begun to creep into our daily lives. Most advancements in technology aim to make our lives more efficient, but there’s a fine line between efficient and lazy.
While in recent memory AI has proved to have many positive applications, it has the potential to make people not only indolent, but thievish. In artistic fields such as music, creativity struggles to maintain its integrity, as a musician’s very voice is up for grabs.
We all know the peer who throws a prompt into ChatGPT and submits the rigid and robotic essay it pumps out (maybe it’s you, admit it). Lack of motivation, check. Plagiarism, no doubt.
AI software only knows what already exists on the internet. So, most of the generated content you’ll receive is copied or completely fabricated. While careless in an academic setting, it also jeopardizes the arts, as creativity itself has become vulnerable.
This applies to music creativity particularly. It’s one thing for “artists” to have AI compose the lyrics and beats to a tune, another much scarier thing to entirely steal a musician’s voice and reap the benefits.
This time last year, the anonymous artist Ghostwriter released “Heart On My Sleeve,” that stole the voices of Drake and The Weeknd to produce their own hit. A hit that was submitted to the Grammy’s. “It’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human (theoretically),” the Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told The New York Times. With that logic, it was performed by humans too, except, not actually.
Needless to say, Drake and The Weekend did not consent to their likenesses being exploited on “Heart On My Sleeve.” And they’re not the only ones with grievances towards the new technology. From Billie Ellish to the estate of Bob Marley, hundreds of high-profile musicians recently signed a letter issued by the Artists Rights Alliance that advocated for their protection and asserted that they will not be replaced by AI. Sheryl Crow discusses her own concerns in her very own title track to her latest album, “Evolution.” Now we know what her least favorite mistake is.
Aside from similar petitions, legal measures are at last reaching fruition to address this issue. Last month, Tennessee became the first state to pass legislation to criminalize the unauthorized use of an artist’s voice (the appropriately titled ELVIS Act: Ensuring Likeness and Voice Image Security).
Just several weeks ago, another long overdue deal in the aftermath of the SAG-AFTRA strikes was met, in which the SAG-AFTRA Executive Committee agreed upon responsible and ethical use of AI with major record labels such as Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Disney Music Group.
The economic side of the coin is a key point in the argument against AI in music. Musicians are being cheated out of fair compensation as AI content is in the same playing field, content that often rightfully belongs to the real musician. The SAG-AFTRA agreements went a great deal to put millions of dollars into the pockets of performers who lost at AI’s gain.
Passing laws and granting financial justice is important, but I have a feeling AI will continue to slip through the cracks. The regulation of AI is a tricky beast, and as the technology evolves, who knows what will become of the music industry.
I’m not a big fan of many advancements in music technology in general, say autotune, for instance. There’s a monotony lingering in the industry, and the frightening applications of AI that I have discussed are sure to worsen it. It’s up to the luddite creatives of the world to put an end to what AI is doing to the arts.
Don’t get me wrong, the “new” Beatles song is intriguing, and James Hetfield covering “Watermelon Sugar” actually goes super hard. But in all seriousness, we must right these wrongs, or else we’re only Puppets submissive to the AI Master.