A.I. and the Future of Music: Threat or Tool?

A.I. is everywhere. It's in your personal devices, it's in the services we buy. The market for it is HUGE. Everywhere I seem to look, there it is: A.I. The media is milking it right now. Whilst it does have its benefits, everybody knows that it is also a major threat to our existence. Among many industries, this also includes the music industry.

For those who aren't aware, I run a business called "Echo Pulse," which specializes in audio mastering for artists and does not rely on A.I. to do the job. The technology is posing a threat to small businesses like mine, reducing the number of clients I receive each year. Many new artists do not understand how their song should sound in the last stages of music production. A.I. takes the emotion out of the process. It does not understand how to capture the spirit of a band in the final stage of music production. It doesn't truly know how it feels when all aspects of sound are meant to be delivered. For example, if you have a sad song, the human audio mastering engineer has to keep that feeling in mind no matter what skills they have. A.I. may be smart, but it is not truly emotionally intelligent.

Let's look at the downside in a bit more detail. There are people who don’t respect it. They are the kind who use it against honest people to gain power and control. They do it because they can. They do it because it gives them a rush to twist the world to their benefit. And then you have to wonder... what happens if the technology itself rebels and we’re not ready for it? When will the world finally step in and regulate it, so that A.I. has to follow laws too?

Inexperienced artists don’t yet understand that A.I. is no real shortcut to fast results. It only looks that way. Yeah, it might be cool to get it to write a hit song, but it seems to be phasing out human music producers already. We need to keep them in jobs and give them the royalties they need rather than getting A.I. artists to make all the money for record companies.

You might find this contradictory to what I believe in. I use A.I. in other ways. I use it to learn, to have a better understanding of what other people teach. It has helped me communicate better along with what I already know. It has also saved me time on deep internet research and has taken the pressure off some of the hard stuff. It has even helped me validate my skills, letting me know whether I am doing something correctly or not. It is just a matter of how you use it.

I believe we CAN use A.I. responsibly. It can be an incredible tool, but it should never replace the human soul behind the art. People need to remember that building their skills independently is important, whether it is with the help of technology or not.

Music is meant to emotionally enhance people's life experiences and bring them closer together, making relationships better. Let’s stand up for human-made music.