By Hussein Ali Rifath
AI music creation has come a long way and is advancing rapidly. As many artists continue to voice their concerns, AI’s world of possibilities continues to prove too enticing for many to resist. Today, we have immense power in being able to use an artist’s voice. The question is: do we have what it takes to use it responsibly?
Recent advancements in AI have made it possible to use existing samples of an artist’s voice to create new music. YouTube content creators have embraced this technology by using it to create AI covers of songs that the artists — dead or alive — have not sang.
AI covers have captured viewers’ imagination and curiosity, but this trend does not come without controversy, with many critics seeing serious implications for art and culture. These covers are made using machine-learning algorithms trained to replicate the sound of an artist’s voice using samples of them singing as datasets. As of now, this technology is far from perfect and the quality of the tracks produced varies. AI covers often fail to capture subtle intricacies of a singer’s voice, such as how they sing higher notes. There have, however, been cases where the results have been startlingly good, easily passing for original work.
This technology allows content creators to explore untapped musical possibilities. YouTube user Leonyx used voice models of members from the alt-metal group System of a Down to swap lead and backup singers of their signature song “Chop Suey!” The video has been generally received positively, with one commenter writing: “I've never asked AI for anything, and yet it gives me what I need.”
In another video, Leonyx makes the group sing a System of a Down-inspired cover of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” by Moonic Productions. The final result was very convincing, with one
commenter writing: “This is so realistic to the point where it's terrifying.” The group last released new music in 2020, and many fans were glad to hear new music with their sound, with one writing: “If System of a Down won’t drop a new album, we’ll just make one ourselves!”
This attitude is exactly what alarms Dr. Paul Moravec, a professor of music in Adelphi’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“What this technology is doing is robbing creative artists of their livelihood,” he said. “It’s basically bypassing them. They can take Dolly Parton’s songs, use her voice and generate, in a few minutes, a perfectly reasonable-sounding replica of a Dolly Parton song out of scratch, out of nothing. It’s amazing how they do this and it’s alarming because it’s making creative artists irrelevant.”
Riley Oberting, a senior graphic design and theater technology student, sees potential in using AI to create art but is concerned about how that might affect an artist’s sovereignty over their own work.
“Using AI to create new and distinct art is interesting, but it opens up the floor to a conversation about an artist's intent,” they said. “As a musician, would you want your music to be manipulated with AI? And how should we go about controlling that sort of thing?”
On the other hand Moravec sees no such artistic potential in AI. “I don't think it has anything to do with artistic integrity, imagination or anything like that. In fact, it’s the opposite of imagination; it's handing things over to machines to generate this stuff. It’s also intellectual theft. And we have laws against this such as copyright laws and so on. I’m afraid that the copyright laws haven't caught up with what AI is doing.”
Through ad revenue, YouTube creators who make AI covers can potentially profit off an artist’s voice without them receiving due compensation.
Sarah Gaetano, a senior acting student, is optimistic that our laws will come to address such concerns. “With every new frontier throughout history, laws kind of come after discovery and so hopefully laws will start to come into place, and I think that is something that's like starting to be worked on which is good.”
Dr. Moravec sees greater cultural implications for these recent advances in AI. “Art is suffering. This is bad for our culture because what they’re doing is just recycling the familiar. It makes it so that our culture remains on this sort of hamster wheel of just spinning around and around and around, keeping it from going anywhere new.”
He is hopeful that Generation Z will take a stand against such cultural decline, saying, “This machine automation of creative energy and annihilation of creativity may cause a backlash and [the younger generations] will say: ‘Hey, wait a minute, stop this!’ Human beings need to take back their property and their role in making music. Otherwise, the whole industry dies.”
As the role of AI in content creation continues to grow, one thing is for certain: many artists will continue to have serious concerns about the financial, ethical and greater societal implications of the way the technology is currently being used. As we move further into this uncharted territory, the ensuing debates will determine the future of entertainment for generations to come.