Twisted Thoughts And Thoughtful Truths On Thursday #015

Twisted Thoughts And Thoughtful Truths On Thursday #015 – “The Rise Of AI (Part 1?)”

I don’t often doubt myself when it comes to getting ALL of my thoughts out on these pages of ours (See: ANY article and their ridiculous lengths), but I really don’t think I’ll be able to get everything out that I’d wanna say on this topic in just one go.

Where do we even start when discussing artificial intelligence?  I’ll start by saying this – it’s a strange fucking leap.  I firmly believe we’re still searching for definitive intelligent life on Earth to begin with, so to think we’re skipping a step and going straight to the artificial kind results in a hearty laugh outta me.

Then the laughter usually subsides and I go back to being terrified about the millions of different things we’re not thinking about when it comes to its potential uses from everyday crime to the brutal end of civilization as we know it.  Today I’ll focus on its relationship to music as best I can for now, before the machines get me.

Many of you (Read: a cousin and one reader) have asked me what I think about AI when it comes to music, and/or what it’s like from my side of the screen in relation to how we function here.  Ultimately, there is no short answer (sorry!) to these questions – but what I can tell you right off the bat is that it is absolutely, 100% here to stay and we’re all gonna have to reckon with that in whatever way we choose.

From the standpoint of an artist, I’ll admit, I understand its potential use and benefits…to an extent.  Even though I fully believe the use of AI is essentially ushering in our own demise, be it creatively or physically, I do still sincerely understand the attraction as to WHY people would want to use it.  First and foremost, we’re a lazy, slovenly bunch as human beings…so if there IS a shortcut to doing just about anything on this planet, believe me, we never work harder than we do when trying to figure out how to not work as hard.  In that sense alone, AI makes complete and total sense.  Why do all the work when you can just push a couple buttons, deliver a couple quick prompts and code by VIBES, right?  Fuck.  It’s maddening to think of from the perspective of the creative types that enjoy the journey every bit as much as they do reaching the destination…AI basically assassinates the old-school methods of doing things for the love of the game in that regard.  But sure…if shortcuts are your thing, or you just want to skip to the chorus like you’ve been yelling towards those on stage for years, AI is most definitely for you.

For songwriters out there that haven’t had the courage or the skill required to create a recording, then it also gives those folks the full-on ability to do everything on their own.  They get to go quickly from being Pinocchio to being a real boy within mere seconds, and of course I understand the attraction in that too.  I mean, imagine if you’re sixty-eight years old, you were never a musician and you’ve never learned how to play an instrument, but you’ve got an idea for a song – you could actually create one with the help of AI!  Or what if you knew that you were hopelessly tone deaf, or were straight up physically incapable of playing an instrument altogether?  AI could get you around those obstacles for the first time in your LIFE and it would feel like a bloody miracle I’m sure.  Even for those that have half an idea or a little bit of the know-how you need to do the things you need to do to make music…AI can help you focus in one what works, it can fill in the technological blanks, it can be your songwriting partner if you need one.  Like I said – I recognize the benefits and the possibilities for AI that exist for people not fully immersed in the arts, even if I’m absolutely reluctant to use it in anything I do and know that’s never going to change.

What I do genuinely believe NEEDS to happen however, is an honest conversation about where this is all going.  Trust me when I tell ya, the last thing that someone who wouldn’t normally be in the musical realm will tell you when they’ve created a song, is how the sausage got made.  If they didn’t play the instruments…if they didn’t sing the words, or write them…they’re simply not going to tell you that.  They won’t claim that they DID do these things in most cases, but they sure as hell won’t tell you that they didn’t.  Lying by omission is the phrase for that I believe.  They’ll just submit for a song review or an album review and then cross their fingers that someone like myself doesn’t figure out what they did, or didn’t do in the case of using AI.  And you know what?  That absolutely fucking sucks.  Don’t do that.

Why not?  Because there’s zero reason not to be honest about it, and we’ll get to mesh together better if we’re just being clear about what we’re listening to.  I’ve already heard a TON (Read: More than I’d like to have heard) of AI music so far, and while the vast majority is still complete and total shite, I have also heard some truly listenable tunes as well.  That’s why I’d be the first to tell you that, yes I hate the very concept of replacing hard work and creativity, but good tunes are good tunes, aren’t they?  It really doesn’t matter how things came to be if we like what we hear, so just be honest about the process.  I’ve heard songs by AI ‘artists’ and ‘bands’ that I KNOW people would go nuts for – and that’s genuinely OK with me.  To be completely frank, I just want you to listen to music, because it makes life worth living.

What I don’t like is being punked…and I don’t really know anyone that does.  I don’t like learning about things after the fact either, so be upfront if you’re using AI.  I’ve heard some great material that I’ve been super jazzed about, only to learn afterwards that it was made totally by machines, and that’s just straight up disheartening y’all.  As a person that has dedicated their life to supporting independent musicians, who already have the entire system basically stacked against them, AI seems like another obstacle they have to now overcome.  It’s unfair – full stop.  There will be some out there that say this levels the playing field…and to some extent that’s true…but man, if you’ve ever spent any time with someone that has spent their life in the trenches toiling in the pursuit of simply being heard, to think that they’ve invested so much time into what they do only for some vibe-coding punk to go viral within minutes of creating what’s only a decent tune via AI…it’s fucking heartbreaking.  Again, to be completely fair as I can be to those using AI, I get that it would be torturous to have a song stuck inside of you that you’ve never been able to get out, or feelings you haven’t been able to express – and if you don’t have the time or the means to learn the craft, I’m not remotely suggesting you stay the fuck out of it.  In cases like that, I’m practically a full-on AI advocate…seek out the machines and let’em help you if you need it.

Doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking though in the scenarios I’ve outlined if you’re still considering the plight of the working musician, does it?  So how do we ever get along?  What’s the pathway forward?  Like I told ya, this isn’t going away…if anything, we’re still dancing on the very tip of the iceberg and this Titanic is headin’ full speed towards the known result in its collision course.  We’ve got a little bit of time before it becomes more rampant than it is today.  Right now, we enjoy the luxury of the fact that AI cannot be forward thinking…it learns on what we’ve already done in the past, and therefore cannot be innovative – AI isn’t going to make any kind of artistic breakthroughs, because it’s completely incapable by its very nature.  It’s a retroactive approach…all it can do is shine up the past to make it seem new again – and real artists out there in the scene can still run circles around shit like that all day long y’all.  It also still displays tiny ticks that most people wouldn’t realize unless they actually ARE musicians to begin with.  Whether it’s a warble in the vocals or some unintended noise hidden in the production, AI is still revealing itself if you’re savvy enough to know what to listen for, but it’s already getting way tougher to detect.  My first experience with it was to wade through someone’s thirty some-odd ALBUMS of what we’ve since come to know as “AI Slop” – and it was pretty fucking painful.  No matter the genre or style that it was supposed to be in, nearly all of it sounded like Imagine Dragons or a simple derivative of what is popular out in the scene right now – emulation and simulation, not imagination or innovation, you feel me?  As a person that continually looks forward into the future and celebrates progress & evolution, it’s seriously brutal to see us so creatively paralyzed and fascinated by these kinds of inadequate tools.  I’m not nearly as interested in what’s been already done so much as I am with what hasn’t been yet.

My next experiences with AI music were less extreme.  Hell, I even started to hear a few things I kinda enjoyed, minus those small identifiable quirks I mentioned earlier.  Even those though…think about it this way – being rooted here in the independent music scene, people come from all kinds of different means, skill levels, and capabilities – what used to be a sign of not having as much access to big money studios or equipment, is now on par with strange AI tics that are very similar.  Then you’ve got the highly exploitative element, like corporations and people that are going to look to bullshit you & make money off the game, like that atrocity of a “band” called The Velvet Sundown for example.  Ever heard of them?  Take a listen if you haven’t…it’s okay, I’m fully saying go for it – take yourself a break from the good ol’ hardworking analog artists & bands on your playlists, and go have a listen for yourself.  I’m not like, going to provide a link to that hot garbage here of course, because fuck that and fuck the people that made it, but go seek it out and see what you think.  You’ll find some pretty average-ass shit, in my opinion.  It’s listenable, it’s catchy, it’s still laden with a bunch of technical difficulties and unprofessional by most standards – but that’s kinda the thing too, ain’t it?  We accept so many different levels of technological deficiencies online, whether it’s a video glitching out or a song skipping etc., and we’re kind of numb to imperfection.  Or at least, we don’t notice it as much.  I don’t mind imperfection myself either when it comes right down to it…like, a music critic wouldn’t even have a job if things just came out perfectly all the time now would they?  If anything, now that AI is already way more convincing than it was at the start, it’s made it so that I appreciate imperfection that much more – that’s the HUMAN element.  It’s the part of the show when you see a band play LIVE that’s beyond their control.  It’s the exciting, unpredictable moment that’s spontaneous and beautiful and absolutely impossible to replicate.

We don’t beat the machines by being more perfect than they will be – we beat them by celebrating our imperfections and our ability to innovate artistically.  I’ll tell you this much though…I don’t WANT to play detective.  I don’t want to have to sit there and scrutinize every record or song that comes my way and wonder IF it’s being made with AI when YOU could have just been upfront about that to begin with.  Because if that’s the way things are going to go, I’m really not sure that I want to be a part of this next chapter in the history of music if I’m being entirely real with ya.  I don’t think it’s COOL to be able to slide an album under the radar and have someone convinced it’s being made by people if it really wasn’t, and I hope you don’t either.  What’s true is that we’ve ALWAYS had tools to use in music that have made things easier for the humans that use’em…whether it’s the drum machine, or enhanced production effects, sound boards, auto tuners…the list goes on and on.  The tools themselves aren’t bad – it’s how we can choose to use them that often is.  We don’t HAVE to be lazy about doing something we love, and we shouldn’t be.  We don’t HAVE to exploit art in the pursuit of making a quick buck, and we shouldn’t be.  We don’t HAVE to use tools at all if we’re invested & interested in the things that we choose to do.

Anyhow.  I know I’ll have more to say on this topic in the future ahead.  I didn’t know where to start this conversation, and I don’t know where to end it now…but that’s what I’ve got on my mind, and I guess it’s better to start talking about it than to bottle it up.  I heard a record just the other day where the vocals were so damn convincing I would have sworn it was a real human being if I didn’t already know it was being made with AI…and to be completely truthful with you, one of my favorite albums this year was made with AI too (which no, they didn’t tell me)…and I find myself at a weird crossroad filled with HUMAN emotion.  It FEELS yucky to enjoy these things as much as I have, given my clear position on the matter.  I got so damn depressed the other day in thinking about how good music is good music, and if that’s the case, who gives a shit who makes it or where it comes from?  I wasn’t raised that way…but maybe that simply means it’s me that has to adapt to this brave new world.  People are going to listen to what they want to listen to, that’s really all there is to it, and whether it was made by man or machine doesn’t factor into that equation.  We’re always going to have people that try to bullshit their way through life or try to circumvent the system to benefit themselves, and this situation is no different in that regard…the problem isn’t special or unique, it’s ordinary AF, and our conflicts with AI are sadly expected.  For now, go hug those vinyl collections in stored away in your milk crates, spin your CDs and tapes, sing and play with your instruments loud enough until the neighbors call the cops on you again.  I might not know everything, but I know this much…machines might be able to replicate a whole lot of the things that we do and the things that we’ll go on to do in the future as well, but they’ll never get the joy we experience from the act of creating, learning, collaborating, and sharing what we do with others.

So take that to heart, and turn those amps of yours up to fucking eleven where they belong my friends.

Be excellent to each other.

Thanks for reading.

Your ally in all-things-music,

– Jer @ SBS