Artificial Intelligence in Music, Pt. 2

Dear Students,

The consensus seems to be that Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. While this might not yet spell doom for us creative types, it begs the question of how we should respond. Is it better to participate with an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em attitude”? Or dig our heels in against change? Perhaps find that elusive “middle ground”?? While, ultimately, it is everyone’s personal decision, it is one I have thought about at length and discussed with friends and family ad nauseum, so I am happy to have the opportunity to get my thoughts off my chest in this forum. Bear with me, I’m going to get very philosophical!

Premise: the creation and performance of music has two purposes: 1) to transform the listener and 2) to transform the creator. The transformation of the listener might be as profound as forming the foundation of a culture, or as benign as entertainment while going about your daily life. We are innately drawn to music - it touches something universal within us. Its mathematical symmetry engages our minds, its poetry captures our hearts, its frequencies move our spirits, and its rhythm delights our bodies. Few mediums bring us this close to the entirety of what it means to be human. The transformative effect of creation is perhaps even harder to articulate; ask any artist why they create and the answer pretty much always boils down to “because I must”. There is something deeply sacred and spiritual in the creative act, however mundane its circumstances. In the words of Victor Hugo (and we must go to the poets and the writers to get this far!) “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” Of course, not every creation bears the same spiritual gravity - it might be difficult to apply such words to a commercial jingle, for example! However, the satisfaction of seeing “something” where before there was “nothing” is empowering to the creator on any level. Seeing your music touch and change others is profound evidence of successful communication - of being understood, which is a deep human need. 

Where does AI fall into this? The most obvious impact of artificial intelligence in music is on the creator. Historically, humans have considered creativity to be the result of divine inspiration, channeled through skill and labor. If you’re lucky enough to be blessed with a visit from the Muse, you must be tenacious and hardworking enough to make use of it! When abdicating any part of the creative act - even the tedious labor of working through a mental block or waiting for inspiration, the creator gives up the corresponding reward - both the humbling delight of freely gifted inspiration and the empowering result of hard earned creation. But a songwriter enters a prompt into an AI platform to create a song and, in doing so, steps out of the role of creator and into the role of listener - observing with, perhaps, justifiable wonder at what has become a technological exchange rather than a relationship between the human and divine. The more the songwriter utilizes AI, the more they give up divine ownership of the song and fall into the role of passive consumer. And I think it's safe to say that the last thing the modern world needs right now is more passivity! 

It’s harder to understand the impact of AI music on the listener without going down the path of making an argument for the human soul - that we surely must feel the difference in human music on some spiritual level. I’m just not sure if that’s true or not. For now, it’s safe to say that AI lacks the nuanced voice and out-of-the-box approach to creative problems that humans can bring to the table. Music written by AI is, for now, fairly rudimentary, but I assume, like anything else done by AI, it will improve. That being said, most music isn’t enjoyed in a bubble. We are fans of musicians - human beings - and our little parasocial hearts might feel a great loss if the music we listened to weren’t connected to a real artist at the other end. The separation of the human and music might be least missed in “elevator music” type scenarios - however the loss of it in cafes and restaurants, or even in the streaming platforms and radios that provide the soundtrack to our daily life might start to take its toll. 

It’s important, also, to understand the whole cost of AI - where does this technology meet a reasonable cost versus gain threshold? I think, in the realm of creative endeavors, the cost is high. Very high. I am not anti-AI across the board, but there are two areas in particular that are troubling to the musician. Firstly, AI trains its algorithms on the work of real artists. AI models require a large amount of human data input to generate content. Therefore, the only way it is possible for AI music to be created is through what is essentially “legal plagiarism” of other musicians’ works. When you input a prompt for lyrics or music into AI, what is generated is an amalgamation or approximation of human-created music (or art, or poetry). And you had better believe those artists aren’t getting paid. The greatest tragedy is that music is already challenging to monetize, so not only are musicians losing income to AI music, they are not getting compensation or recognition for their contribution to the very platform that is stealing their income. If that were not bad enough, the environmental impact of AI datacenters is well documented: https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117 https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about 

Furthermore there are risks to privacy, integrity, and even safety that AI presents, as well as risks we’ve not yet noticed or considered. It's a bit of the wild west out there, something that no doubt will improve over time, but in the meantime, we should be cautious and critical. At the same time, there are many important things that AI does well in the fields of medicine, technology, research, etc. For the use of a technology to make sense, it should improve peoples’ lives to a degree that outweighs any cost to the environment. Some uses of AI do meet that threshold, however I don’t think this is the case of AI in music. AI in music doesn’t really improve people’s lives (arguably it makes them worse) and is based on unethical practices regarding intellectual property. While perhaps oversimplistic, Ms. Maciejewska’s X post (below) summarizes the sentiment and clearly hits a nerve that resonates with many. 

Any time we give up collective knowledge and skills, there is a loss. Over time, through various “labor saving devices”, we have incrementally given up skill in favor of convenience. I lack many of the creative and practical skills that were normal for my ancestors and I recognize that as a loss, but I also understand the value of the privilege and ease that is the result. 

Sometimes the changes are hard to notice except over a lifetime. They’re easy to adopt and easy to justify. In songwriting, does it lack integrity to utilize a thesaurus to find words to complete a line? In recording does it lack integrity to splice the best takes of a song together to form one take? Or utilize mixing/mastering techniques to improve tone quality? Or sample an instrument instead of live recording it? Or apply pitch correction? How much pitch correction is too much? I’m not really sure where that line is, and I imagine it's different for every individual. While none of these examples are as extreme as what AI can do, I think it's important that we not give up our effort lightly. I believe that any incremental retreat towards convenience comes at a cost, but at times I’ll choose to pay it within awareness and intention and I will be accountable for that cost. But I won’t be eager to give it up and I won’t be thoughtless about giving it up. You can pry my pen and songwriting notebook from my cold, dead hands. 

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Do not go gentle into that good night.” - Dylan Thomas

What do you think? Can the benefits of AI in music outweigh the cost? Where would you draw the line? Shoot me an email or leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you. 

Warmly,

Dr. Jane