I think we've reached the point of exhaustion with artists talking about AI but not having anything novel or even coherent to say. In a recent interview with iHeartRadio at the Osheaga Festival, Empire Of The Sun's Luke Steele was asked if he used AI, and he responded, "Of course!" Although his answer was enthusiastic, the conversation that followed quickly lost steam.
The interviewer then questioned the ease of his response, pointing to the many musicians who think AI should not be involved in the creative process at all. "It's quite exciting, the humans versus AI, but it's just another tool," Steele responded. "It's like a really smart guitar pedal."
When asked to respond to artists who think AI shouldn't be involved in artistic creation at all, he said:
I think you gotta be careful because it's so powerful that AI is going to empower artists that know how to use it, and they're going to become unstoppable. The artists that are against it have got to be careful, because it's going to come and swallow you like a boogie monster at night.
That last part is both confusing or really upsetting, illustrating AI as a monstrous entity that's going to come for us whether we want it to or not. Conversations, if you could even call it that, like these reveal how rage-baity discussing AI has become.
Overall, Steele's response, I think, is more realistic and somewhat cynical than outright pro-AI. He seems a bit uninterested and not really equipped to talk about the subject, but he appears to be of the mind that it's going to be a part of our future whether we like it or not. It's giving if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, which, in this case, is an uncomfortable truth to swallow.
Watch the clip below.
