How AI and Algorithms Are Transforming Music (Podcast)

[StephenM]

I finished listening...so much to think about...at the end of the day if someone is moved to use AI to make them excited about music cool..
And if a person wants to and garners a following, groovy!
I like hearing about your adventures Ted...whether it be in Madagascar or using AI to help you code! 
Spotify i still don't have... i do like audio though..

[Zoltan]

Interesting stuff, but i'm sure the whole Ai thing is so wide ranging that it will be part of so many things (and already is) without people even noticing. Meaning that at this point in time saying "i won't use Ai" is comparable to saying "i won't be using electricity".

Perhaps it's the word Ai that's scaring people so much.

Even if we zoom down to Vst plugins. The stuff they're doing behind the scenes is bordering on Ai and some of them actually do use Ai as such. Making it faster, easier to make changes. It doesn't necessarily have to mean that someone / something is doing all the work for you, or devaluing your art.

[Jean Pierre]

I tend to agree with Zoltan, before it was called AI, it was probably already being used as a tool, without knowing it, as Zoltan says about certain VST plug-ins
...just as Mr Jourdan, in Molière's Le bourgeois gentilhomme, wrote prose without knowing it

I've tried to translate for you the text from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme".

From Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière, scene VI, act II.

Monsieur Jourdain

[...] I must confide in you. I'm in love with someone of great quality, and I'd like you to help me write her something in a little bill that I want to drop at her feet.

The Master of Philosophy

Very well.

Monsieur Jourdain

That will be gallant, yes.

The Master of Philosophy

I'm sure it will. Are these verses you want to write him?

Monsieur Jourdain

No, no; no verses.

The Master of Philosophy

You only want prose?

Mr Jourdain

No, I don't want prose or verse.

The Master of Philosophy

It has to be one or the other.

Mr Jourdain

Why is that?

The Master of Philosophy

For the reason, sir, that there is only prose or verse to express oneself.

Monsieur Jourdain

Is there only prose or verse?

The Master of Philosophy

No, sir. Everything that isn't prose is verse, and everything that isn't verse is prose.

Monsieur Jourdain

And since we're talking, what on earth is that?

The Master of Philosophy

Prose.

Monsieur Jourdain

What! when I say: "Nicole, bring me my slippers, and give me my nightcap", is that prose?

The Master of Philosophy

Yes, Monsieur

Monsieur Jourdain

By my troth, I've been saying prose for over forty years without knowing anything about it, and I'm most obliged to you for teaching me that.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Ted]

Meaning that at this point in time saying "i won't use Ai" is comparable to saying "i won't be using electricity".

Bingo. Or maybe a better analogy is people who say "I don't use the Internet, I only use email and Facebook."

[Mike Huntingford]

i agree with Stephen. much more joy to be found in writing and creating music with a human brain and your own hands than relying on some flashy computer to do it for you.

Spot on IMHO. The creative process is where the pleasure (and pain) is - at least for me.

[Oldrottenhead]

I don't have a problem with ai creating effects , tones etc. I don't even have a problem with the way the composer on the podcast uses it as a co author or a soundboard to come up with new ideas.
My problem is when it is used to write or compose complete works and then someone claiming it as their own work. There's the rub.

[Ted]

My problem is when it is used to write or compose complete works and then someone claiming it as their own work. There's the rub.

Correct. The lazier you are with AI, the more ethically murky it gets. AI is trained on text, sound, video, and audio from all over the internet. When someone uses AI to generate a complete work the easy way (Create a song in the style Cracker about rechargeable batteries) it will definitely create something totally new, but from 1000 stolen parts.

But as Zoltan suggested, being firmly anti-AI is an untenable position if you continue to use modern music tech. Using AI doesn't mean you surrendered the creative process over to a robot.

Heck, I still use the Micro BR. I probably use less AI in my music creation than some "anti AI" composers here who use things such as amp modeling and profiling, drum track generators, Auto-Tune and vocal processing, backing track generators (e.g. BIAB), smartphone-controlled effects, virtual instruments, noise reduction and restoration, MIDI controllers with smart features, etc.

[StephenM]

I don't have a problem with ai creating effects , tones etc. I don't even have a problem with the way the composer on the podcast uses it as a co author or a soundboard to come up with new ideas.
My problem is when it is used to write or compose complete works and then someone claiming it as their own work. There's the rub.

great point here.

[Oldrottenhead]

I'm sure I read somewhere that when the pianoforte was invented folk said it was cheating 😜

[Jean Pierre]

I'm sure I read somewhere that when the pianoforte was invented folk said it was cheating 😜

It reminds me of the episode when Dylan at the Newport 65 Folk Festival went electric under the wrath and booing of folk purists.

https://www.rollingstone.fr/un-jour-une-histoire-25-07-65-bob-dylan-au-newport-folk-festival/