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{{Quote|''Over The Bridge, a mental health awareness organisation, has created The Lost Tapes Of The 27 Club, a compilation of songs generated by [[AI]]. The four songs mimic the tonal qualities of Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison, imagining what music by the artists were like '''had they not passed away'''.''}} | {{Quote|''Over The Bridge, a mental health awareness organisation, has created The Lost Tapes Of The 27 Club, a compilation of songs generated by [[AI]]. The four songs mimic the tonal qualities of Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison, imagining what music by the artists were like '''had they not passed away'''.''}} | ||
Have a listen [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzn21tX2ykY to the video].<ref>Oddly, the official tracks have been pulled from Spotify and YouTube. </ref> It’s a clever forgery — it’s got the inexpert syncopations, and an amusingly authentic out-of-tune guitar, and Nirvana’s trademark intensity shifts. But play it back-to-back with In Bloom and it’s just not the same. For all the power of AI they seem to have co-opted at least a singer and possibly a whole band to record the song, so we’re a significant step away from this really being artificial intelligent. | Have a listen [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzn21tX2ykY to the video].<ref>Oddly, the official tracks have been pulled from Spotify and YouTube. </ref> It’s a clever forgery — it’s got the inexpert syncopations, and an amusingly authentic out-of-tune guitar, and Nirvana’s trademark intensity shifts. Not much trace of ''Endless, Nameless'', however. But play it back-to-back with ''In Bloom'' and it’s just not the same. For all the power of AI they seem to have co-opted at least a singer and possibly a whole band to record the song, so we’re a significant step away from this really being artificial intelligent. This is more like a cover band recording their own tribute song in the style of Nirvana. Is that going to sell out stadiums worldwide? | ||
Now this is not to deny music AI is impressive: it is ''stunning''. The AI drummer on Apple’s ''Logic Pro'' is indistinguishable from a real human, and adapts to the music it accompanies. Amplitube’s amplifier emulation can accurately replicate vintage ampliers, mic placements, cabinets, and room acoustics. Izotope’s mastering plugins and mix and master your music to sound, should you desire it, like Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The technology is genuinely amazing — it ''far'' outstrips any [[reg tech]] in financial services — and really is putting folks out of work/bringing professional studio technology in the hands of [[Dangerboy|talentless amateurs]] (delete as applicable). | |||
But the implied promise here isn’t | But the implied promise here isn’t “technical emulation” but redundancy of humans altogether in the creative process. The futurologists are over their skis here. Can [[artificial intelligence]] give us the music Kurt Cobain was going to give the world had he not died? No. ''Of course'' it can’t. Even logically, this is barking mad: the guy shot himself. There is a path-dependency problem here: Cobain could not make any more music, so whatever a machine can come up with, however brilliant, ''it could not be that''. It would be something different. It would be ''some other process'' trying to imitate Nirvana. | ||
And we don’t need AI to do that: AI just makes it cheaper and easier. However good these processes may be, it is never the same. Just ask the surviving members of Pink Floyd. | |||
===== The Dark Side of the Wall ===== | ===== The Dark Side of the Wall ===== | ||
In 1993 there had not been a Pink Floyd album of any kind for six years, and there hadn’t been a ''good'' one for fourteen. The Machine — you know, the one Pink Floyd welcomed us to in 1975 — judged the mood of the record-buying public, which tends to buy Pink Floyd records regardless of what they are like, and concluded it was time for a new one. | In 1993 there had not been a Pink Floyd album of any kind for six years, and there hadn’t been a ''good'' one for fourteen. The Machine — you know, the one Pink Floyd welcomed us to in 1975 — judged the mood of the record-buying public, which tends to buy Pink Floyd records regardless of what they are like, and concluded it was time for a new one. | ||
But, problem: other than through their [[legal eagle]]<nowiki/>s, band members were not talking to each other. Lyricist Roger Waters had walked out over a decade earlier, and there was no chance of him coming back. What to do? In 1994, using AI to emulate the band’s recorded output wasn’t really on the cards. The remaining members did it the hard way. They pulled off a fair approximation. Without Waters, guitarist David Gilmour had his wife, an author, contribute lyrics. Beautifully recorded and redolent of the band’s signature crystalline guitar solos, swampy organs and moody synth pads, ''The Division Bell'' went straight to number 1 in the UK and the US, eventually selling something like 10,000,000 worldwide. | But, problem: other than through their [[legal eagle]]<nowiki/>s, band members were not talking to each other. Lyricist Roger Waters had walked out over a decade earlier, and there was no chance of him coming back. What to do? In 1994, using AI to emulate the band’s recorded output wasn’t really on the cards. The remaining members did it the hard way. They pulled off a fair approximation. Without Waters, guitarist David Gilmour had his wife, an author, contribute lyrics. Beautifully recorded and redolent of the band’s signature crystalline guitar solos, swampy organs and moody synth pads, ''The Division Bell'' went straight to number 1 in the UK and the US, eventually selling something like 10,000,000 worldwide. | ||
''The Division Bell'' ''sounded'' like Pink Floyd. It was recognisably the same product. But it emulated old ideas, recycled old tropes, tried to recapture the glorious seventies. There was nothing new in it. It went nowhere. It did not develop. It could not anticipate where Roger Waters might have taken the vision, because Waters wasn’t there to give that impetus. One critic posted a one-line review which captured the problem exactly: | ''The Division Bell'' ''sounded'' like Pink Floyd. It was recognisably the same product. But it emulated old ideas, recycled old tropes, tried to recapture the glorious seventies. There was nothing new in it. It went nowhere. It did not develop. It could not anticipate where Roger Waters might have taken the vision, because Waters wasn’t there to give that impetus. One critic posted a one-line review which captured the problem exactly: | ||
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Waters still tours ''The Wall''. No-one tours ''The Division Bell''. Psychologically, no-one wants a facsimile, a reimagining or a rehash, however much effort one goes to to achieve it. | Waters still tours ''The Wall''. No-one tours ''The Division Bell''. Psychologically, no-one wants a facsimile, a reimagining or a rehash, however much effort one goes to to achieve it. | ||
===== It’s musical backtesting ===== | |||
In a way ''The Division Bell'' was a good analogue to Nirvana by AI: it is not a development of the artist: it is a recombination of ''old'' records, put together in a way ''that Kurt Cobain didn’t''. We know the artistic choices Cobain made, and they weren’t these ones. They’re the ones that ended up on ''Nevermind''. If the object is to emulate someone that we no longer have, and we are reassembling existing parts that Kurt Cobain left behind, then unless we submit them exactly as Cobain would have — as he ''did'' — then our recombination must be inferior. | In a way ''The Division Bell'' was a good analogue to Nirvana by AI: it is not a development of the artist: it is a recombination of ''old'' records, put together in a way ''that Kurt Cobain didn’t''. We know the artistic choices Cobain made, and they weren’t these ones. They’re the ones that ended up on ''Nevermind''. If the object is to emulate someone that we no longer have, and we are reassembling existing parts that Kurt Cobain left behind, then unless we submit them exactly as Cobain would have — as he ''did'' — then our recombination must be inferior. | ||
So, as a recombination its an inferior. | So, as a recombination its an inferior. If we expect an extrapolation of where Nirvana might go next, [[Artificial Intelligence|artificial intelligence]] has is no chance. It is not magic. It cannot see into the future or reconstruct dependent paths which did not happen. Given that Cobain’s path stopped abruptly in 1994, it is impossible to deduce what he might have been writing about in 1995. We cannot reconstruct that: it is no more effective than any kind of [[backtesting]]. | ||
Who knows what Cobain would be singing about had he not died? Perhaps he would have discovered a tantric yoga and spent a month in a commune in Bangor. Perhaps In Utero would have been composed | Who knows what Cobain would be singing about had he not died? Perhaps he would have discovered a tantric yoga and spent a month in a commune in Bangor. Perhaps ''In Utero'' would have been composed on sitar. Maybe it would have been rubbish. We don’t, and, ''cannot'' know. | ||
And pop stars ''do'' | And pop stars, being human, ''do'' preposterous things like decamping to spiritual retreats in Wales. The Beatles did. Consider: what kind of technology could take ''Please Please Me'', ''With The Beatles'' and ''A Hard Day’s Night'' and generate anything resembling ''Rubber Soul'', let alone ''Sergeant Pepper'' or ''The White Album''. | ||
Creatives: you’re not out of a job yet. | Creatives: you’re not out of a job yet. | ||
=== It’s not about the === | === It’s not about the music === | ||
The importance of [[authenticity]]. Why is it not the same when it isn't David gilmour playing that guitar solo? | The importance of [[authenticity]]. Why is it not the same when it isn't David gilmour playing that guitar solo? | ||