Don’t hate on AI...
When AI can write bigger, better, more sophisticated songs than us, what do we have left? What’s the point? First of all, AI aside, why do we create?
I guess most people would say it’s to express. Not so much that we have something super important that millions of people really need to hear. But to get something out that just needs to come out. Let’s assume that an AI in a not-too-far-away future is able to write something that to the listener feels sincere, true, meaningful and important. Maybe appear even closer to reality and more relatable than something written by a human.
I don’t think the human brain is that complicated. It just reacts to outside stimuli. The brain doesn’t really care if something is fake or not. If something tastes like a banana, the brain will tell you so, even if it’s just wires connected to your brain, sending you the exact right code (electrical impulses) of banana taste.
Everything is out there in the universe. All words, melodies, and ideas are flying around, for us to pick and put together in the right order. This is a perfect task for a computer. Something it is designed to do really well. It’s just a matter of bandwidth and the amount of data available.
One could argue that the analogue computer (the brain) is superior since it’s limitless in its resolution, (not binary). It should be able to extract more subtle layers of the surroundings, but that is just a matter of time.
Like the transition from analogue to digital photos for example. Who cares anymore.
One might argue that there is something magical about analogue. But after a while, people get used to digital. That’s what people get their emotions from. Now that becomes the new magic format.
We probably gonna look back at the analogue brain in a similar way.
A cute old-fashioned hobby. Thinking analogue. Something for a small number of nerds. Like knitting or clay pottering.
We have machines now that make better sweaters way faster and that make clay pots perfect every time.
And this is my point. If you’re into knitting, you probably do it for your own pleasure. Not to compete with the big textile industry.
You might make a small living of it because enough people might be willing to pay a little extra for something handmade. So…
The future of music making, after about a hundred years of being an industry, will go back to what it’s been for a hundred of thousand years. A communal experience is an expression of oneself that is not created for profit. Whoever owns the means of production (the best algorithm) will still be able to make lots of money, but for the rest of us, it’s back to the core.
Writing stories, and melodies that feel meaningful and sharing them with friends.
It might not be for the big mass, but there will most likely be enough nerds out there in the future, developing analogue film, knitting mittens and listening to handwritten music.
So don’t hate on AI, see it as our liberation!
The self-titled debut album "Hög sjö" is out now on Smuggler Music.
