Artificial Intelligence < > Intelligent Artists
2024
The fear is spreading. Namely the fear that artificial intelligence (AI), with its rapid advances, is now also conquering the last bastion of human uniqueness: creativity - specifically music.
Until recently, it was unimaginable that an AI could actually compose meaningful, sophisticated and aesthetically interesting music. But today the time has come. Recently developed AI tools are capable of producing surprisingly independent, interesting and - yes, I find it hard to say - even fascinating works of music ... and all based on simple text input!
Is this a triumph of technology and the end of human artistry?
The music industry is indeed facing unprecedented pressure. Applied music in particular - an area in which many well-trained musicians have been able to earn a living - is facing an existential threat. Film music, TV, advertising, games, documentaries and image videos: The makers of this music will face serious competition, because AI-generated music has unbeatable advantages in all these areas: it is cheap, fast, changeable, available without much prior knowledge, free of license fees and does not cause any trouble with copyrights.
So are the concerns of many musicians justified?
Are the alarm bells ringing in the music industry justified?
My sons, who are musically gifted, ask themselves the legitimate question of whether it still makes sense today to invest the famous 10,000 hours of practice that a human being still needs to become a master on an instrument such as the guitar or piano. Why, when AI will soon be able to do everything better, faster and cheaper ...
A tough question: is learning to play an instrument still relevant for the future today or is it already a sentimental glorification of a culture in decline?
In the hope that at least part of the journey will also be the destination, there will probably be many more generations who simply enjoy and find fulfillment in making their own music with their own analog instrument and improving their associated skills more and more - in other words, developing themselves noticeably and audibly. For this reason alone, it makes sense to learn an instrument, to practise and to make music.
At least for the current generation, it speaks of culture, style and taste when you hire a jazz band for an anniversary celebration, which gives the evening a special atmosphere, provides atmospheric moments and also emotional highlights for the group dynamics. I think live music will be an integral part of our culture for many years to come.
However, in my view, this assessment only applies to the next one or two generations. What comes after that is difficult to say from today's perspective. Perhaps it will then be en vogue to hire specially trained AI musicians for an unprecedented variety of stylistic possibilities and musical and acoustic bandwidths: inexpensive, limitless, timeless and multimedia networked.
Human live musicians in the form of bands or orchestras will then be perceived more as a relic from the past and a historical quote. Is this the end of human musicians as creative minds or just another evolutionary step in our forms of cultural expression?
For the majority of music listened to today, however, a different rule applies anyway: the focus is not actually on the music, but on the "star". All popular music is based on the principle of personal branding. Companies in the music industry invest large sums of money in certain, defined stars, with whose help they have to return even larger sums of profit. This is a tough business model and has little to do with creative and artistic standards - not nothing, but little.
The majority of music heard today therefore requires human individuals who give the music its own character and distinctiveness. It needs stars who stand in front of or behind this music in order to be perceived as performers and creators by their "fans". Whether this human touch will still be needed in two or three generations' time, I don't know.
Of course, it is possible that digital individuals will then also be staged as "stars". For the investors - i.e. the music industry - this would presumably be associated with advantages: freely programmable, customizable to the user, limitless in terms of capabilities ...
So perhaps even in the field of pop music, human musicians will be in the minority in a few generations.
In any case, it is already a fact that applied music is facing massive challenges. The recently developed AI systems imitate pre-produced »canned music« almost effortlessly and offer unbeatable cost and efficiency advantages. You can already see that advertising agencies, film studios and game developers are literally scrambling for these technologies.
But honestly: Hasn't applied music always been characterized by mass production, created with intensive technological support? Hasn't it always been produced »from the tape« in order to be played "from the tape"? Hasn't it always been primarily about addressing clichés and producing musical decals with intensive technological support in highly polished studios in order to play it safe?
So what is the big difference between this and AI-generated music?
For us humans, »making music« is a basic skill that is one of the most beautiful and satisfying activities of our existence. Everyone who makes music can confirm this, whether alone at home in very private moments or together with others on a more or less large stage.
From today's perspective, I can't say whether there will be enough demand in the future for musicians to be able to make a living from their favorite hobby as an active profession. There is still a lot to be said for it. But there is also a lot to be said against it - if you continue to think stringently about developments.
And so we find ourselves in one of the most exciting and at the same time most challenging times in human history.
I see an answer - at least my answer - and at the same time great potential for young talent in creative collaboration between humans and AI. Instead of displacing human artists, AI can be used as a tool that expands creative processes and opens up new - previously impossible - possibilities. Musicians should proactively use AI to explore new soundscapes more easily, realize complex compositions faster and draw poetic inspiration from unexpected sources.
In this symbiotic relationship, I define a new hybrid art form of the future - where humans act as creative leaders, using AI as a supportive tool and as an assistance - and thus further develop the world and themselves.
Whether the necessary know-how can be learned at universities today or whether you simply have to teach yourself as a young person is something we need to find out.
© SHA.ART 2024
