The abacus, man… It all started with the abacus…
Isn’t the same way humans learn music?
Not trying to get into a debate…
1 Like
There’s gotta be a way to break down the word “abacus” to mean “666”.
3 Likes
Yeah we do to a degree, but I suppose it depends if you think humans are capable of original thought or not and if we are more than are inputs. Currently what we call AI is fully deterministic and not capable of original ideas.
1 Like
the AI that ends us will surely be called “abacus”.
Currently what we call AI is fully deterministic and not capable of original ideas.
AI in the context of music or art in general is on a path to eliminate actually having to possess the talent, or put in the time it takes to develop the talent, which i think is a detriment to any creative process.
I think this has always been the case albeit in other forms. people use ghost producers and sell the productions as their own. Or use all tools available to them to “create” music as easy and fast as possible by using more or less finished loops to start with, couple of midi packs etc. Or literally taking someone else’s music, and release it under their own name. It might make it easier, but it doesn’t bring anything new in terms of people abusing tech / premade stuff to gain attention and “make it”.
If anything I see AI being used by artists to create a new wave of music that is very different from what we hear now. As a starting point or for sampling and then further process and re-sample etc.
I’m not sure yet how I feel about all of this. On the one hand it seems quite messed up. On the other hand it’s probably like any new wave of tech. It will be both opposed and embraced and eventually will be normalized and used for new creative endeavors. Just like DAWs.
3 Likes
“AI” in its current state is just the next generation of midi chord packs and sample loop sets. The userbase is probably pretty much the same as well.
1 Like
AI is fine. AI biases (intentional or not) is not fine.
Image generation where women ared minorities are massively underrepresented is one thing (and a very real problem) but if you think chart music is shite now, imagine how bad it’ll be if “they” make an arse of the data feeding into musical AI tools. I think that would end me.
1 Like
It’s an interesting question, what’s the difference between an AI song, a mash-up, a cover, or even an original song that’s heavily derivative of other music?
I think the difference is that when a person is inspired by music they hear, even when they do a cover or bad copy of a song, they bring more than other musical input to it. They bring their whole lives.
Say someone in 2024 tries to make a Motown song from 1964—they are doing a lot more than merely copying the sonics and timings.
The person hearing the song in 2024 has 60 years of cultural remove, they live in a different time, probably a different place, and have different concerns and fears and hobbies, different beliefs, that all inform the song they make.
An AI has none of this context. It has mountains of inputs, but it cannot truly understand them the way a human does, because it has no body and no life story. To an AI, music may as well be a dress pattern.
But the musician making the shitty cover, they have friends, family, rent to pay, a whole story that’s uniquely theirs and changes the song they end up making, for good or bad.
A computer can mimic a mind, but our minds are not computers. I think comparing the two does a disservice to the human brain, a marvel of nature, and the people doomed to carry the damn things around in our heads all day.
4 Likes
Like a “homo abilis”?
And what if it’s just a matter of giving AI enough time (and data)?
Not trying to defend AI, just speculating…
After all we can all agree this is just the very, very beginning…
1 Like
No, not like one at all, because homo habilis was an animal that got smarter, not a machine made to mimic a smart animal.
I think humans ascribe way too much value to our “intelligence” because it flatters us and makes us feel different from the other bloodthirsty creatures. But a dog is exactly as smart as a dog needs to be.
1 Like
What I mean is, the homo habilis still has context. And a body. It gets hungry and scared. It lives in a pack that has its own dynamics
Humans weren’t automotons before we got smarter. And lots of non-human animals have cultures.
I recently heard a club owner who wants an AI-DJ to play music to the clubbers.
Obviously for saving cost on gig fee.
The interesting question whether or not the audience accept AI or looking for the human interaction. Even for electronic music DJing I really enjoy to see how the DJ is working. If vinyl that adds another layer of “magic”.
However I think AI is not just a hype, the possibilities are endless and the progression is amazing.
Imagine a back to back set with Richie Hawtin and his AI-clone.
Degrees matter though, don’t they? The comparison should be with artisans and their workshops crafting products vs the industrial revolution. AI isn’t simply another tool it’s a means of infinite production and reproduction of existing tendencies.
Soon enough the big labels will just automate the whole process and hire “taste makers” to find the next hits. Then they’ll ride the cool wave and create “artificial”/digital personas that will do digital signings, interviews, live gigs (with human musicians) and the capital will continue to go upwards and concentrate further in fewer hands.
3 Likes
What about this.
EvilCorp uses AI to create trillions of songs a day, including lyrics, melodies etc. then copyrights it all.
Now no one can make any music because it’s all copying them 
Right and they still exist, don’t they ? 
hand made stuff is still being made, sold and bought.
I get your point of course, but the part of the industry you’re talking about is the main stream and it’s not that much different from its current form in that the people at the top get most of the money, radio stations play the playlists that are curated for them and to cater to the masses to sell more and so on. AI will definitely automate a lot of that. Spotify will have (already has I believe) AI generated music playlists etc.
It’s pretty bleak. However, it won’t completely substitute humans performing music or creating music. And it definitely won’t substitute people loving to see and hear actual humans play music. It will co-exist. And it will definitely also be used as a new way of generating ideas or as a tool to create completly new forms of music from which is already evident.
It for sure has dark sides to it as with any revolution, but I don’t think it will be the downfall of human creativity or anything like that.
1 Like
We maybe in the last batch of humans hand making music before it’s all amalgamated into “the model” and people just resort to generate prompted deviations of everything recorded pre 2030.
Creative prompting is the new art.
Preative crompting.
1 Like
I love this…
3 Likes
AI for me it’s just pretty convenient:
instead of go out and hunt down drum breaks (that later will be mangled - dissected and re arranged back again) I just prompt my Google Colab for them.
It’s just like an arpeggiator or a VST : they make your life easy… But your still have to do your part and plan what you want to do with these resources.
Of course, you can also hotknob AI generated music like Splice loops and call it a day.
1 Like
