AI can compose good music, but humanity still holds the creative baton

The creative industry is pushing back against artificial intelligence developers to protect the sovereignty of their works.

Concerns among creatives include copyright infringement issues during artificial intelligence model training, which have already led to major lawsuits across North America. Another growing worry is the possibility of losing work opportunities to AI, which can generate images, text and even musical compositions.

Video: How blockchain can change the music industry forever. Source: Cointelegraph

Niche tools like Suno AI can create relatively complex musical compositions in moments, while Big Tech giants like Google and Meta have launched their own music-focused large language models.

In light of these developments, musicians are questioning their futures. Cointelegraph attended the 2024 World Congress on Innovation and Technology in Yerevan, Armenia, where a panel of industry experts and musicians discussed the potential outcomes of this creative and technological crossroads.

Understanding AI’s impact on music

Armenian musician and producer Nick Egibyan candidly expressed his concerns, stating, “Actually, to be honest, AI does whatever I do on the same level as I can do it now, as an arranger and a music producer.”

He recalled recently hearing a track that “gave him goosebumps” only to discover that an AI had produced it. “I think it’s amazing,” he said. “I’m just scared to be left out of work.”

Matthias Röder, an award-winning music and technology strategist, noted that “music is changing tremendously” and drew a parallel to the art world.

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“Remember, when you went to a museum and you saw a Jackson Pollock painting,” he said. “A lot of us probably thought, I could do the same. Yeah, you could, but you didn’t, this is the thing.” Röder added:

“Now we hear a great song and we say, ‘oh, I could do the same.’ Yes, but you didn’t. You didn’t have the idea. You didn’t have the vision. This is what being an artist is all about and the AI is not taking that away from us.”

Röder said he sees a future where more and more people can express their creative visions with the help of AI rather than being stolen from.

Prominent Armenian composer and conductor Sergey Smbatyan emphasized that AI can enhance productivity by handling routine tasks, allowing musicians to focus on more valuable aspects of their work.

In musical terms, humans still hold the conductor’s baton for generating the unique visions that define the vast capabilities of the human mind, while AI can manage the rest.

Emotional resonance in AI-generated music

However, this doesn’t mean that AI won’t be creating music, and most likely, it will be music that humans will consume on a regular basis. 

The question was then raised: will we feel anything from such music? 

“I think the primary seat of emotion in music is really in the audience,” Röder said. “And when you listen to music that moves you, this is where the emotion comes to life.” He added:

“Can an AI create music that triggers certain kinds of emotions in the audience? Absolutely. It can. It can do it like any good composer can do it.”

He described this process as applying the patterns that have worked in the past to create certain emotions to new inventions in music and making use of this knowledge of how music can stir emotions in the listener.

However, the case for human guidance is still strong. 

“AI and music is always a rather dry thing where you analyze patterns that have been used in compositions in the past, and then you turn that into something exciting when the machine interacts with the human creators.”

Because of this, he believes that “AI is the greatest music education tool that we have,” as well as a great tool for “stimulating musical creativity.” 

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