Artificial Intelligence & the Music Industry
Are Musicians and Songwriters Out of a Job?
Today, I’d like to put politics aside and talk about something completely different. Only a few years ago, I knew little about artificial intelligence (AI). It was my work on my local high school board of education that brought the future impact of AI to my attention. Our district is currently engaged in identifying ways to use AI in the classroom. We are also working to identify the more nefarious ways students may engage AI. It’s becoming increasingly clear that artificial intelligence is likely to be bigger than the internet when it comes to the way it changes the world we live in.
I’m no expert on the topic, but it’s easy to see that AI is likely to seep into every aspect of our lives, from how we use social media, how we make purchases online, and how we do our jobs.
The belief that “A.I. won't replace humans, but humans using AI will replace humans who don't" has become a common refrain among those familiar with the technology and how it will shape the future. Listening to a podcast on the topic of AI, I recently heard someone say something that really gave me pause. That is, “Right now, artificial intelligence is the worst it will ever be.” On the surface, that statement doesn't seem so profound. But when you consider what AI can already do? MIND BLOWN!
As a professional musician, I wonder what this will mean for the profession's future five to ten years down the road. There are dozens of online songwriting platforms that give users the ability to create original songs and instrumental music in minutes. For instance, on ilovesong.ai, simply type in some lyrics, describe the style of music you want, chose your vocalist and click “generate.” It’s that easy.
Now, this isn’t to say that everything the song generator cranks out is good...or even somewhat good. Just as AI art generators often spit out photos of people with too many fingers or horrifically distorted faces, song generators often require multiple runs to produce results that are acceptable, but still often flawed.
I decided it was time to experiment with AI song generation and see just what I’m up against. After writing the lyrics to three songs, I then turned them over to my AI songwriting partner. After a few tries, I was pretty impressed with the results:
“Right now, artificial intelligence is the worst it will ever be.”
Oh shit!
So basically, the songs I created today using artificial intelligence (which I really kind of dig), will be a BAZILLION time better in just a few years?
“A.I. won't replace humans, but humans using AI will replace humans who don't"
What does all this mean for the music industry and, just as important, me as a composer? I don’t know. What I do know is that musicians and songwriters will need to embrace AI and find a way to coexist in a world where much of our content will be created by virtual beings.