“AI will never create real music!!”
In the past week, my feed has been flooded with musicians arguing about AI.
Many are horrified.
Many fear being replaced.
It's understandable. The music produced by AI threatens identity and livelihoods, especially as it improves.
Long ago, skilled weavers feared powered looms. Painters feared cameras. When synthesizers arrived, many musicians dismissed them as fake. Gramophones threatened live music.
We have a tendency to want to preserve the world that made us.
History, though, reveals another interesting pattern. Whenever humans remove one scarcity, scarcity moves elsewhere.
In the 1800s, photographic images were scarce. By 1900, they were becoming abundant. Technology has made images abundant. It didn't make great images abundant. Great images - the kind that move people - are less common.
Anyone can generate songs using AI. Most of those songs will be forgotten. Many skilled musicians write forgettable songs, too. After all these years, great songs - the kind that move people - are less common.
The real question is "which songs deserve to live"?
That's a question of judgement, regardless of how the song was made.
The musician chooses the notes that matter.
The listener chooses what moves them.
That doesn't change.