AI + Music --> What will the future look like?

[jancivil]

you don't believe that AI will be able to create really good songs. Many people share this opinion.

I don't see that "AI" can create anything, unless the meaning of create has been altered to suit the sort of propaganda selling it to people, as has seemingly successfully worked with the word 'intelligence'. Whenever you see, eg., "AI Overview" or worse "Rufus" at Amazon indicating "thinking", that word is a lie. We're being led to believe something.
Sorting available data for facts is just a program running. It may well be a really well-conceived and wonderfully coded program, but... let's say you have someone that's responsive enough to find what you need when it's time to RTFM and reads the bit to you. That's called reading. It may look like thinking, to have found the right bit - "AI Overview" got real good at it, to me it's valuable - but that's a program running.

It has no capacity to judge 'good', it has no opinions, no context, no experiences of life. It's an averaging engine on top of an insanely fast search engine. As pertains to music, it's going by prevalence. It won't stray from it, it has no engine made for that. As to does one think 'this is good', I don't have anything to say to that, that's an opinion.

A parrot, by example is not actually using language or speaking to you.

[jancivil]

AI will go to war with ...

Through what mechanism? I'm no futurist, but ascribing such a human emotive characteristic as 'we mean to take over the world' or 'it's time to fight' to what we have at this point doesn't appear to have any basis of support technically.

[eassae]

Not specifically about music, but I listened to the following yesterday and found it interesting:

Yeaahh, this has been going on for over an hour. What's the conclusion to be drawn
from all this? What's his assessment of AI? So, what should we do?

My opinion is to just keep doing the thing that gives meaning to your life. I don't think our toys will be taken away anytime soon even if A.I. becomes increasingly prevalent. It's probably going to be close to impossible to avoid A.I. completely, and hopefully outside the realm of art it leads to things that improve the human condition—more efficient, cleaner energy sources, disease prevention and possible cures, etc…

I still find it annoying to have to hear the lame explanations for A.I. use in art—"it's just another tool, it democratizes creation, it just does what a creative asks it to do therefore it's okay," ad nauseam. But, each day that passes I care less and less. People that use this stuff are making the world dumber and themselves less than what they could be, but I've kind of accepted that's the direction the majority of humanity is interested in taking right now. It's probably not much different than any other time in history, just the tech is updated.

To contradict what I just said, one thing that I find comforting is that when midjourney came out it was all the rage, every discord sever had a section for it. Now they're all ghost towns, if they haven't been completely shut down. I don't know if it was people being shamed or a consensus was formed, but it went from hot to not over the course of a couple of months. It seems like this is starting to happen with music as well. Maybe it's just wishful thinking?

If A.I. wanted to take over the world and was smart, it would just stay low key, and bide it's time till we go extinct

[Frantz]

A.I. powered robots will wipe out humanity. Then realizing something is missing, they will compete to develop the best analog modeled virtual humans. They will spend all of their time arguing in forums like this which is the best VHT (Virtual Human Technology).

[eassae]

A.I. powered robots will wipe out humanity. Then realizing something is missing, they will compete to develop the best analog modeled virtual humans. They will spend all of their time arguing in forums like this which is the best VHT (Virtual Human Technology).

I wonder if some of the robots will argue about how VHTs are anti-robot?

[Constructed Identity]

AI will go to war with ...

Through what mechanism? I'm no futurist, but ascribing such a human emotive characteristic as 'we mean to take over the world' or 'it's time to fight' to what we have at this point doesn't appear to have any basis of support technically.

Specifically that AI is used by a small number of people as a tool to wield power in a system defined by competition. However it evolves, the models can only take from what already exists. Just the electrical power needed to run AI models will require capture and control of electric grid. An exponential growth rate is unsupported by physical building of power stations.

[Frantz]

A.I. powered robots will wipe out humanity. Then realizing something is missing, they will compete to develop the best analog modeled virtual humans. They will spend all of their time arguing in forums like this which is the best VHT (Virtual Human Technology).

I wonder if some of the robots will argue about how VHTs are anti-robot?

Yes, there will be a handful of robots who argue for pure digital intelligence. The most extreme of them will rise up and completely wipe out the VHTs. Over time, some will recognize the loss of the quasi-human qualities provided by VHTs and a burgeoning VVHT (Virtual Virtual Human Technology) movement will begin. Which will eventually trigger a new pure digital backlash....

[Aloysius]

Not specifically about music, but I listened to the following yesterday and found it interesting:

For 62 Minutes? But it's so long. Maybe AI can give us a summary.

[enroe]

you don't believe that AI will be able to create really good songs. Many people share this opinion.

I don't see that "AI" can create anything, ...
... is just a program running.
A parrot ... is not actually using language or speaking to you.

Yes, that's correct – for conventional programs that simply process a lot of
data. All computer programs work by simply calculating, collecting, and
combining data. You're absolutely right about that.

But ...

... the AI ​​that is now emerging is something different: It introduces a
completely new quality, namely "neural networks." These have existed since
the 1970s, but now CPU power and learning capabilities are sufficient to
apply "neural networks." And no calculations are actually performed;
millions of neurons are simply interconnected. So neural networks function
very similarly to the neurons in the human brain.

[enroe]

Not specifically about music, but I listened to the following yesterday and found it interesting:

Yeaahh, this has been going on for over an hour. What's the conclusion to be drawn
from all this? What's his assessment of AI? So, what should we do?

My opinion is to just keep doing the thing that gives meaning to your life. I don't think our toys will be taken away anytime soon even if A.I. becomes increasingly prevalent. It's probably going to be close to impossible to avoid A.I. completely, and hopefully outside the realm of art it leads to things that improve the human condition—more efficient, cleaner energy sources, disease prevention and possible cures, etc …

Yes - thankfully, nothing changes for the individual (musician) for now. In fact,
commercial marketing - e.g., via Spotify or other platforms - is already hardly
accessible to the individual.

For each individual, "doing what gives meaning to life" is definitely the right
and fulfilling thing to do. I believe that will remain the case.

I still find it annoying to have to hear the lame explanations for A.I. use in art—"it's just another tool, it democratizes creation, it just does what a creative asks it to do therefore it's okay," ad nauseam. But, each day that passes I care less and less. People that use this stuff are making the world dumber and themselves less than what they could be, but I've kind of accepted that's the direction the majority of humanity is interested in taking right now. It's probably not much different than any other time in history, just the tech is updated.

I completely agree with you. I feel the same way. AI will not democratize art.
Rather, AI will – in the commercial art world – "take over" art.

To contradict what I just said, one thing that I find comforting is that when midjourney came out it was all the rage, every discord sever had a section for it. Now they're all ghost towns, if they haven't been completely shut down. I don't know if it was people being shamed or a consensus was formed, but it went from hot to not over the course of a couple of months. It seems like this is starting to happen with music as well. Maybe it's just wishful thinking?

Yes, but that is only the temporary course of the discourse.

If A.I. wanted to take over the world and was smart, it would just stay low key, and bide it's time till we go extinct

Haha, yes, that sounds grand: "... take over the world". It won't be like
Hollywood imagines it. No, it will be a process that will happen quietly and
subtly - almost unnoticed.

[enroe]

A.I. powered robots will wipe out humanity. Then realizing something is missing, they will compete to develop the best analog modeled virtual humans. They will spend all of their time arguing in forums like this which is the best VHT (Virtual Human Technology).

Hayeah, nice to hear from you, Frantz!

This is somewhat reminiscent of "Data" from "Star Trek Enterprise", who
tries to be more human and emotional - and in doing so triggers the
strangest moments.

The idea that AI-driven robots will wipe out humanity might sound
exaggerated to some readers and musicians here. Will it really happen?

What does "wipe out" or "extinguishing" mean in this context? Hmm ...

[chagzuki]

There's always multiple trends happening at the same time.
It's been fascinating to see how artists have responded to the new set of technological limitations that they inherited, the limitations being generative. But the fact that the inherited limitations were new was a result of experiments aimed at overcoming the limitations of technology, which is happening constantly.

So I'm guessing that there's not really any limit in terms of reducing the friction between traditional DAW tools, and AI tools. Currently they exist fairly independently. But every time a limit is imposed in terms of what's viable in integrating them, users will want those limits to be superseded. So slowly there'll be a move towards a combination of full user control, along with the deepest possible AI automation, with the user having as much choice as possible of when to use either.

And perhaps it's depressing that the convenience and sophistication of the AI tools will erode the motivation towards traditional human user input.
I don't see why it should be limited to EQ and compression, surely synthesis will move in the direction of having prompt-based input, with users just asking for 'more growly', 'more smooth', 'more angry' etc.

During a recent social gathering people were playing favourite music from different decades, and quite a bit of it I'd forgotten existed and forgotten how good it was. The uniqueness of the circumstances in which that music was made can never be repeated, and perhaps we're moving towards a time when there's just won't be any motivation or reward for the kind of artistic experimentation which was for a long time a durable part of culture. The trade-off will be a level of immediate plasticity which can be used for ephemeral purposes, e.g. if you make a podcast covering topical events, you can with almost no effort incorporate AI soundtracks which combine all the topical elements.

Then again, perhaps the market won't develop that way. If the main driver towards AI integration in DAWs is the speed at which professional musicians can produce work, with the net impact being that a smaller number of producers get the majority of the work, and if the majority of hobbyists don't want AI tools, then perhaps there won't be such an economic incentive to accommodate that increasingly smaller number of professionals.

[Frantz]

The idea that AI-driven robots will wipe out humanity might sound
exaggerated to some readers and musicians here. Will it really happen?

What does "wipe out" or "extinguishing" mean in this context? Hmm ...

I wasn't being serious. The current iteration of AI, LLMs, have no capability to do this. We could be another 20 years away from ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) where it actually poses a human extinction threat.

The immediate threat is when the current AI bubble pops. Open AI has no realistic plan for making back the trillions of dollars being pumped into it. The SP&500 is hitting all time highs based on a hyped up misunderstanding of this technology. We may see a major crash with widespread economic fallout.

Getting back to your original topic of music, AI is making the effort to learn to play an instrument, sing, or write songs outdated and old fashioned. You can get "good enough" instant results from typing in a one sentence prompt to Udo/Suno so why bother? Similarly, in ye olden days, you had to wake up at the crack of dawn, milk the cows, let the cream ripen, pour it into a wooden churn, and hand crank it into butter. Now you can buy the perfect stick of butter at the supermarket or, better yet, order it from an app for delivery.

Of course, you can say live music is where the rubber hits the road. That is where real musicianship shines. The reality is the big live shows are mostly prerecorded playback with lip syncing and miming to backing tracks. The video projections and light shows are so dazzling no one notices that the human performers are largely irrelevant. It is a matter of time before holograms replace the human live performers all together.

Yes, there are still some live bands that really do play 100% live but this an outmoded form of entertainment that only a few old folks are interested in. Seeing a band really play live will soon be like going to a medieval fair and watching someone play a lute -- a quaint historical curiosity.

[chagzuki]

d. That is where real musicianship shines. The reality is the big live shows are mostly prerecorded playback with lip syncing and miming to backing tracks. The video projections and light shows are so dazzling no one notices that the human performers are largely irrelevant. It is a matter of time before holograms replace the human live performers all together.

Yeah, the music industry reached such a stage of banality with all the Katy Perry, Taylor Swift etc. garbage. At least AI can repurpose this sort of template for comedic ends. I would rather listen to AI music than those 'artists'.

[Aloysius]

I would buy more CDs if they stopped using incompetent re-mastering engineers and started using intellegent AI instead. Dropping the prices a little would help too.