I decided to approach this hot-button topic this week after watching Hannah Fry on the telly presenting the first in a series of programmes wherein, as a tech-loving person, she hoped to demystify and broaden the whole topic for mere bystanders such as myself. I had several thoughts about the issue before the programme, and I now have several more. I mean, the idea that someone in Holland far prefers his AI girlfriend and a wank to the real thing is one thing, but a chatbot reinforcing a deluded kid to kill the Queen with a crossbow is something else altogether. One of the conclusions of the programme was that if 100s of millions of us are developing relationships (however chaste and reasonable) with some form of AI Chatbot, then even if only a small percentage go completely mad, that is still going to be several hundred thousand people. Flip me.
My more immediate concern about AI (and to be fair, since watching this programme, it has become less of a concern, more of an irritation) is the way it is seeping into the music industry as producers realise it’s cheap, endless and makes money. In our genre, it is uncommon, if not completely non-existent, but it is coming, and the shoots are starting to show. So where do you draw the line? This month, Art Garfunkel, amongst others, has been signed by an AI Music production company so they can use his voice in songs they create. Randy Travis, who has had aphasia since 2013, has released a song generated by AI using recordings of his voice to recreate his sound. These all sound like excellent examples.
The musician and artist benefit from their resource, but there are far more of the less acceptable forms of AI music floating around. The endless ‘amusing’ creations mimicking the Motown sound whilst singing about Shit Left Round The Pan or the Fart That Woke Me Up (see below for the literally excreable Rays of Detroit), and even worse, there is the prospect/reality of artists that have died being ‘resurrected’. WTAF? Life is finite for a reason; we must do everything we can, knowing it doesn’t last forever. Our mortality makes us creative and fallible. Where is the future music going to come from if every week there is a new Jimi Hendrix album? Similarly, the disguising of total AI song creations as ‘real’ seems sinister. Why not be honest? The lines are blurring fast; we need to hang on to honesty and storytelling IMHO.
Something to think about whilst chatting to your bot and polishing that crossbow! Listening-wise, once you have heard the awful Rays of Detroit, cleanse your palate with the new Alela Diane and some live Jeffrey Martin. No AI here! The radio show is all women this week and sounding very good for it, featuring as it does Rickie Lee Jones, Laney Jones, Natalie Merchant, Brandi Carlile and many more. As ever…
