The Future of AI Music

Polyphonic
28 Jun 202419:10

TLDRThe video explores the impact of AI on the future of music, discussing the ethical concerns and potential of AI in creativity. It highlights how AI is reshaping music production and the industry, with examples of artists integrating AI into their work. The script emphasizes the need for innovative use of AI to push creative boundaries and avoid producing bland music, suggesting that AI's role in music is just beginning and will likely lead to a new musical revolution.

Takeaways

  • 🎵 AI music is becoming increasingly prevalent and is expected to bring significant changes to the music industry, similar to the impact of file sharing and other technological advancements.
  • 🤖 Ethical concerns about AI in music include intellectual property, carbon footprints, data ownership, and biases, but these are unlikely to halt the adoption of AI technology.
  • 🎶 The speaker believes that AI can contribute to the next big musical movement, as technological progress has historically driven major shifts in music genres and culture.
  • 🔍 AI's role in music is currently seen as imitative rather than truly creative, but it can be a tool for human creativity, much like a sampler or a camera.
  • 👨‍🎨 The potential for AI in art lies in its ability to create interesting and novel outcomes through collaboration with human artists, as demonstrated by various music projects.
  • 📚 Historically, new technologies in music have been met with resistance but have ultimately become integral to the development of new genres and styles.
  • 🧩 The speaker compares AI to collage art, suggesting that the rearrangement of existing elements can lead to new associations and emotional responses.
  • 🤖 AI's 'failures' or 'mistakes' can be a source of creativity, as they can produce unique and uncanny results that are different from traditional artistic expressions.
  • 🎭 The use of AI in creating music and visual art can reflect the strange and surreal aspects of modern existence, adding a new dimension to artistic expression.
  • 👽 AI's uncanny and eerie outputs can be harnessed to create a sense of surreal dread or humor, contributing to a new aesthetic in art and music.
  • 🌐 The integration of AI into everyday tools will likely lead to a new generation of artists who will use these technologies to explore and express the human experience in innovative ways.

Q & A

  • What is the main topic of the video script titled 'The Future of AI Music'?

    -The main topic of the video script is the impact of generative AI on the music industry and its potential to bring about significant changes in music creation and consumption.

  • What cultural war is mentioned in the script, and why did the author decide to hold their tongue?

    -The cultural war mentioned in the script refers to the debates surrounding AI's role in art and creativity. The author decided to hold their tongue because they were tired of the ongoing controversy and chose to wait for a more opportune time to discuss the topic.

  • What are some of the ethical questions raised about AI in music?

    -Some of the ethical questions raised include intellectual property rights, carbon footprints, ownership of data, and biases that may be inherent in AI systems.

  • How does the author view the relationship between technology and major genre shifts in music history?

    -The author views technology as a driving force behind major genre shifts in music history, with each new technological advancement giving rise to new forms of music and cultural movements.

  • What is the author's opinion on AI's creative capabilities in the context of music?

    -The author believes that while AI itself is not creative in the human sense, it can be a tool for human creativity. AI can be used to rearrange and reinterpret existing elements in new and interesting ways, much like a collage artist.

  • Can you provide an example of how AI has been used in music creation mentioned in the script?

    -One example is the band Everything Everything, where frontman Jonathan Higgs collaborated with a researcher to develop a generative AI program that helped write lyrics for their 2022 album 'Raw Data Feel'.

  • What does the author suggest as a potential future for AI in art?

    -The author suggests that a potential future for AI in art is to blend it with more traditional forms of creativity, allowing for more novel and interesting outcomes than the current input-output model.

  • How does the author describe the current state of AI music?

    -The author describes the current state of AI music as often being bland and uninteresting, with AI creations being vague approximations of existing ideas and cultural perceptions.

  • What is the significance of the quote by Brian Eno mentioned in the script?

    -The quote by Brian Eno emphasizes that the unique characteristics of a new medium, even its shortcomings, can become its signature and inspire creativity. It suggests that AI's 'failures' or 'mistakes' could be a source of inspiration for artists.

  • What is the author's stance on the fear-mongering around AI and its impact on art and music?

    -The author rejects the fear-mongering and asserts that humans will always create art, and with new tools like AI, there are exciting new ways to express the human experience.

  • How does the author view the role of AI in exploring the human experience in a world dominated by digital technology?

    -The author views AI as a brilliant tool for exploring the human experience in a digital world, suggesting that it can help artists address the challenges and realities of modern existence.

Outlines

00:00

🎵 The Emergence of AI in Music: A Culture War and Ethical Debate

The script begins by addressing the author's long-standing interest in the impact of generative AI on the future of music, a topic initially broached in a podcast episode. Despite the ensuing culture war and ethical concerns surrounding AI, such as intellectual property rights, carbon footprints, data ownership, and biases, the author notes the increasing presence of AI in music, from YouTube recommendations to collaborations with major artists. The author acknowledges the ethical questions but suggests that they won't halt AI's integration into music, drawing parallels to historical technological shifts in music and their societal impacts.

05:01

🤖 AI's Creative Limitations and the Potential for Novel Collaborations

This paragraph delves into the debate about AI's creative capabilities, with the author arguing that while AI can mimic, it cannot be truly creative in the human sense. The author compares AI to other tools like samplers and cameras, suggesting that creativity with AI is a collaborative process. Examples are given of artists who have experimented with AI, such as Everything Everything's use of AI to write lyrics and Holly Herndon's AI project allowing fans to sing with a deep-fake version of her voice. The author also discusses the use of AI in music production and post-production, and the need for AI to break out of its 'bland' phase to create more interesting and meaningful art.

10:03

🎭 Embracing AI's 'Artificial Stupidity' for Creative Breakthroughs

The author explores the idea of using AI's 'artificial stupidity'— its mistakes and misinterpretations— as a source of creativity, referencing Brian Eno's concept of finding beauty in new media's imperfections. Examples of artists like 10 Tricks Point and Tom Hulkenberg are highlighted, showing how they have deliberately used AI's quirks to create unique compositions. The author also discusses the use of AI in visual art and music videos, emphasizing the value of AI's failures in creating intriguing and surreal outcomes that reflect the strangeness of modern existence.

15:04

🔮 The Future of AI in Art: A Revolution in Expression and Self-Understanding

In the final paragraph, the author reflects on the potential of AI as a tool for exploring the human condition in the digital age. They predict a musical revolution driven by AI, where upcoming generations will grow up with AI as a familiar tool for artistic expression. The author dismisses the fear that AI will kill art, asserting that humans will always create art and will find innovative ways to use and challenge AI technologies. The paragraph concludes with a sponsorship note for Ground News, emphasizing the importance of media literacy and informed discourse in the era of AI and digital technology.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Generative AI

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can create new content, such as music, art, or writing, that resembles human-created material. In the video's context, it is central to the discussion on how AI is influencing music creation, with examples of AI-generated beats and voice mashups becoming prevalent in the industry.

💡Cultural Perceptions

Cultural perceptions are the shared beliefs, values, and attitudes within a society or group that shape how they understand and interpret the world. The script mentions how AI music often reflects our own cultural perceptions, suggesting that AI's output is influenced by the data it's trained on, which is a product of our culture.

💡Collage

A collage is an art form that involves the arrangement of different forms, such as papers, photographs, and other materials, on a single surface to create a new composition. The script compares AI music to collage, suggesting that both can be seen as forms of creativity that involve rearranging existing elements rather than creating something entirely new.

💡Moral Panic

Moral panic describes a widespread fear, often unreasonable, about the impact of a perceived threat to societal values or interests. The video script discusses how new technologies, including AI, have historically been met with moral panic, with critics fearing they will negatively affect music and art.

💡Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

A Digital Audio Workstation is a software application used for recording, editing, and producing audio files. The script mentions the advent of the DAW as a significant technological shift that coincided with the rise of electronic dance music (EDM), illustrating the impact of technology on music genres.

💡AI Mashups

AI Mashups refer to the blending of different musical elements or styles using artificial intelligence to create new compositions. The script discusses how AI is used to generate mashups, often resulting in interesting and novel outcomes that blend traditional creativity with AI-generated content.

💡Deep Fakes

Deep fakes are synthetic media in which a person's likeness is swapped with another using AI. In the context of the script, deep fakes are mentioned as a part of AI's capability to create realistic, yet artificial, representations, such as singing voices, which can be used in music production.

💡Ethical Questions

Ethical questions pertain to the moral principles that guide actions and decisions. The script raises several ethical concerns related to AI, such as intellectual property rights, carbon footprints, data ownership, and biases, highlighting the complexity of integrating AI into creative processes.

💡Aesthetic Affiliations

Aesthetic affiliations refer to the emotional or intellectual connections that individuals have with certain styles, forms, or elements within art and music. The script suggests that AI music often relies on these affiliations, creating compositions that are familiar but may lack originality or depth.

💡Creative Breakdown

Creative breakdown refers to the process of deconstructing or breaking apart elements of a medium to explore new possibilities or to push the boundaries of what is traditionally considered art. The script encourages using AI in this way, to find novel and interesting applications beyond the technology's intended use.

💡Procedurally Generated Music

Procedurally generated music is music that is created through an algorithmic process rather than being composed in a traditional linear fashion. The script cites Brian Eno's work with generative music apps as an example of how AI can be used to create endless, unique musical experiences.

Highlights

AI music is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life and is changing the music industry significantly.

Despite the massive change, there is a lack of AI music that is considered good, suggesting a need for better understanding of how to utilize AI in music creation.

Ethical questions around AI in music include intellectual property, carbon footprints, data ownership, and biases, but these concerns have not stopped technological progress.

AI technology is making our lives more convenient, and this convenience is likely to ensure its continued adoption despite ethical concerns.

Major genre and cultural shifts in modern music history are tied to prevailing musical technology, indicating that AI may lead the next big musical movement.

AI can't be creative in the human sense but can be used creatively by humans, similar to how a sampler or a camera is used.

The band Everything Everything used AI to help write lyrics by training on diverse texts, resulting in only 7% of the lyrics on their album.

Holly Herndon and Grimes have experimented with AI, allowing fans to sing with a deep-fake version of their voices, showcasing a potential future for AI in art.

AI is being used subtly in music studios, with producers incorporating AI elements into beats or using it for noise cleanup in post-production.

Most AI art lacks the ability to be interesting or say something meaningful, often being too similar to existing styles and failing to break new ground.

Brian Eno suggests that the 'failures' of new mediums often become their signature sounds, and this concept is relevant to AI in music.

Composer Tom Hulkenberg used AI to create 'happy accidents' in his score for 'Furiosa' by deliberately confusing the AI with unexpected input and output.

AI art is more interesting when it embraces the failures and distortions, creating a unique and uncanny aesthetic.

AI has the potential to reflect the strange, terrifying, and absurd realities of modern existence, as seen in various music videos and album art.

Brian Eno has been experimenting with generative music and AI, creating experiences that can produce endless unique music.

AI is a tool for exploring the human experience in a digital world, and it will continue to evolve as a medium for artistic expression.

The coming generation will grow up with AI as an everyday tool, potentially leading to new forms of artistic expression and understanding of AI technologies.

AI in music and art is not about the death of creativity but about finding new and exciting ways to use and break the technology.

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