Will we run out of new music?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Or perhaps I should write \u2018not yet\u2019, because what\u2019s become obvious in recent months is the huge leaps that artificial-intelligence scientists have made with their \u2018large language models\u2019 \u2013 programs drawing on databases comprising billions of words and images. And, as a result, how astonishingly adept such universally available tools as ChatGPT have become at faking, well, anything you want really \u2013 pictures, videos, essays, business letters, even poetry.<\/p>
The potential benefits of AI to the music industry<\/h2>
I have no idea whether the warnings of concerned scientists about the impact of these chatbots on humanity \u2013 warnings that range from massive job losses and the increasingly dangerous spreading of fake news to the subjugation of our entire species \u2013 are credible or not. Pondering such things is well above my pay grade. But I do have a few thoughts about the impact on our artform.<\/p>
Saving time on rudimentary tasks for composers<\/h3>
It’s entirely likely that AI will change musical life considerably. For instance, low-grade compositional tasks \u2013 I\u2019m thinking of those dreary soundtracks churned out for video games, or the sort of club music based on a driving drumbeat and a few synthesised squiggles \u2013 are already well within the capabilities of machines. If that puts mediocre composers out of work, or forces them to write more imaginative things, so be it.<\/p>
The potential threats of AI to the music industry<\/h2>
Fake recordings and the copyright complications<\/h3>
The scope for faking recordings will be hugely increased. Expect soon to encounter new albums of fresh material purporting to come from famous dead singers \u2013 whether it\u2019s Sinatra or Pavarotti<\/a><\/strong>, Amy Winehouse or Maria Callas<\/a><\/strong>. They will sound uncannily like the real thing, too, because AI has a limitless capacity to imitate every tiny nuance of anything fed into it.<\/p>
Such innovations will probably have a novelty value for a while, and will certainly produce a lot of lucrative work for m\u2019learned friends in the legal world, given the copyright complications involved in faking anything. And the irony is that AI machines, with their infinite capacity for sifting through archived material, will then be used in court cases to support or refute claims of copyright infringements by other AI machines. Perhaps, one day, even the lawyers and judges will be chatbots. <\/p>
The Mozart Effect: does Mozart actually make you smarter?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
Will AI actually <\/em>have a long-term impact on music?<\/h2>
Once the novelty wears off, however, I wonder how big the public\u2019s appetite for AI-produced music will actually be. What sells music is what has always sold it: extraordinary feats of imagination, spectacle, charisma, profundity, soul and spirituality. Plus, live performances, of course. In none of these areas, thank goodness, do machines come close to challenging real human beings. <\/p>
So, my view of the AI revolution, insofar as it affects music, can be summed up in ten words: enjoy the benefits; do not panic about warnings of doom. From the invention of the gramophone to the advent of streaming, new technologies have always been seen by some as an existential threat. Always, though, musicians find ways to adapt and survive. They will again.<\/p>
I hope you feel reassured after reading this. But don\u2019t get too complacent. The question you should now be asking is: did Richard really write these words of comfort, or did his computer? <\/p>
Find out more about music and AI on our Science of Music<\/a><\/strong> hub.<\/em><\/p>
More by Richard Morrison <\/h4>
Who will join Purcell, Elgar and Britten as British composing greats?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Should orchestras ditch concert dress and have a more casual dress code?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Why the early music revolution of the 1970s was truly a moment to savour<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Main image \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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By Richard Morrison Published: Friday, 23 February 2024 at 11:51 AM Every few months I get a message from an excited reporter at the newspaper where I pretend to work. Scientists in Japan (it\u2019s usually Japan or California) have used a computer to complete Schubert\u2019s \u2018Unfinished\u2019 Symphony! Or the machine has written a new Mozart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39466,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-scaled.jpg",2560,1725,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-300x202.jpg",300,202,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-768x518.jpg",768,518,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-1024x690.jpg",800,539,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-1536x1035.jpg",1536,1035,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/music-and-ai-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-music-2048x1380.jpg",2048,1380,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Richard Morrison Published: Friday, 23 February 2024 at 11:51 AM Every few months I get a message from an excited reporter at the newspaper where I pretend to work. Scientists in Japan (it\u2019s usually Japan or California) have used a computer to complete Schubert\u2019s \u2018Unfinished\u2019 Symphony! Or the machine has written a new Mozart…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

The potential threats of AI to the music industry<\/h2>