Why I Do Not Fear AI's Influence on Art
Help! “Artists” are at risk! Chatbots are taking our jobs! Let’s form a union.
There seems to be a general fear among “artists” that chatbots (what is currently known as “AI”) will somehow influence their artistic output because technology can generate slop faster than they can. I say “seems to be” because I have only ever heard this sentiment on the internet and I do not believe anything I see on algorithmically influenced websites (which is practically every website nowadays).
Those who fear their art is threatened by technology are not artists. Those who are worried about their paycheck have either (most likely) not been creating art to begin with or are famous enough that it does not matter.
Pop music, top 40 music, things you hear in the grocery store or if you accidentally go above 90.0 FM on the radio, is already algorithmically generated. This has been the case for at least 20 years and probably since MTV realized they can monetize an image better than the music itself. There are teams of people who know what elements need to be included in a pop song for it to make money. A majority of the time these elements are not even musical, i.e.: (a) the cultural capital of the performer who they will prop up as the artist; (b) the amount of money needed to force repeated exposure of the song through radio play, spotify manipulation, superbowl halftime shows, tik-tok campaigns etc; (c) orchestrated drama surrounding the song; and/or any other psy-op needed to force adoption of the song by the masses.
The actual music does not really matter. There may be a trap beat, a country sounding chord progression, a synth pad; the people who compile these sounds into a product know the simple rules to make a pop song. There is an algorithm that is followed in order to generate a product. A major production company does not have time for creativity, they are a business concerned with the bottom line. There is no romantic Beatles Abbey Road type of song writing going on. The person performing the songs may have a minor role in the creation of the song, but there is usually a team of people credited as writers alongside them, despite the song being 2 minutes long and devoid of content
An LLM algorithmically generating a song is no different than what a team of people at a big record company are already doing. The LLM may be able to do it faster and more efficiently than the team, and maybe those guys should be worried about their job, but they are not artists. They are not creating art, they are creating a hyper-processed product–high-fructose corn-syrup and all–Which has absolutely nothing to do with the art that I create.
Maybe you expected to make money from your art, and worry that AI is going to block that path. If you can make enough money to retire off of your art, you are either lucky, business savvy, have a successful youtube channel, already famous enough for AI to not matter, or I guess one of the select few that “made it”. If you need the allure of being famous to create art, you are doing it wrong. If you are struggling to survive for your art, you probably need to start thinking about making a YouTube channel, finding a part time job, or moving to the country where you can buy some land and be debt free.
This is not meant to be a doomer-take on “making it”. I am not trying to denigrate “artists” struggling to make it. But we have to be realistic and rational in our life choices as artists. If your choice was to suffer for your art, then that is just the choice you made. I do not view that choice as noble or impressive. It does not make your art more valuable.
I do not fear AI’s influence on the music industry because I am compelled to write music regardless of the state of the industry. I know nothing about “making it”. I do not know anything about monetizing my art. If I was worried about the music industry and somehow infiltrating it, I would be more focused on creating a product that would sell rather than expressing myself through art. My compulsion to create drives me forward naturally, unyielding to outside factors and fads.
Perhaps the fear is that your music will be less likely to be heard as the market will continue to become over-saturated with sub-par music. The market is already over-saturated and has been for decades. The music that is consumed by the masses is music for the masses ALREADY. A simple look at the charts or a quick watch of a Rick Beato YouTube video elucidates the fact that the masses’ taste in music has continued to devolve. Why does any of this matter to you? If you are my age (30s) or younger, this has been the state of music since before you were born, yet you still make music anyway. Why is AI the boogeyman when it is just another stepping stone in a long path to stagnation in popular music?
I am not advocating for the use of AI in music/art. Art is the expression of the soul; AI has no soul, therefore cannot create art, only cheap imitations of art. The same cheap imitations that are created by the big record company teams of producers and writers churning out hit after hit.
Let’s not fear AI, but strengthen our commitment to individuality. Allow art to flow forth through/from you. Nothing can replace that which emanates from your soul.
