AI in Music: Where Machine Meets Man

Should a machine make music?

The song “Country Girls Make Do” has recently gone viral on social media for its provocative lyrics on female sexuality in the countryside. The song is an explicit parody of modern day country music, so much so that TikTok users have started a trend of playing the song for their parents, filming their reactions for the internet to laugh at. More shocking than the lyrics are their creator: an artificial intelligence-powered software program.

While the 2010s saw the rise of parody popular music videos from YouTube creators, that niche is being filled by AI music like the song above. A dilemma emerges: By legitimizing and providing AI music cultural relevancy, are we supporting its replacement of human creators?

AI is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of many industries and institutions. According to a research report published by the Stanford Human Centered Artificial Intelligence Center, AI is more embedded in our daily lives than ever. In education, healthcare, economics, and more, AI is fortifying itself. Even at our dear Harvard, professors are increasingly welcoming AI in the study, revision, and even learning process.

AI music artists are emerging as well. The song “Country Girls Make Do” was created by the anonymous artist Beats by AI. Currently, Beats by AI has almost half a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Receiving over 2 million total streams so far, Beats by AI can only be expected to grow as time progresses.

Beats by AI is not the only AI artist receiving attention. AI-created artist Xania Monet signed a multi-million dollar deal after Billboard chart success with their gospel song “Let Go, Let God.” Xania Monet has sparked much controversy, with many reflecting on what this means for creativity and artistry. Popular singer Kehlani laments on the state of the industry, believing that up and coming artists will only struggle to break into the mainstream bubble all the more with computer programs having a place in the limelight. Similarly, global star SZA states that she ‘'hates AI” and detests those that feed her likeness to AI programs to create content.

Music is an especially controversial field for the integration of AI. AI can generate songs and aid lyrical development, mastering production, voice cloning, and more. AI can streamline the entire process to where all a person has to do is provide a prompt. In advertisements, AI can generate promotional content of music artists using their likeness. In creation, artists can use services like AI music company Suno to create AI songs in mere seconds.

For financially challenged artists, the proliferation of AI services provides a way to democratize the often expensive process of creating music. Similarly, if anyone can create music, detached from the creative process, smaller artists face the risk of being buried in the torrent of songs. Why would record companies invest in artists if they can create hit songs for a fraction of the price?

For consumers, this introduces the larger question about the integrity of the art created. Being a fan is a uniquely human connection — why else do people camp outside in storming conditions to interact with their favorite musical artist? When such consumers are fed music created by AI, they lose the essence of their obsession: human authenticity.

When the song “Heart on My Sleeve” first dropped, which sounded like a collaboration between global superstars Drake and The Weeknd, fans went ballistic, assuming that an album was on the way. Once the song was revealed to be created by a TikToker using AI voice imitation, fans reeled, feeling duped.

The song’s creation was removed from the human beings it was supposed to represent. This is the core of the conversation: Can it even be said to be art without human beings involved in the creative process every step of the way?

Conversely, there are artists like Grimes, who are choosing to embrace AI in the creative process, believing that AI is a gift that ought to be utilized like any other.

Aside from ethical considerations, there are various legal intricacies. Because AI can only create from existing work, there are conversations about who owns the eventual product: the software company that licenses its software, the programmer, or the artist’s work that guided the AI. Suno finds itself in a lawsuit between major record labels like Sony Music Entertainment for allegedly pirating songs from YouTube onto its platform. The lawsuit alleges that Suno intentionally circumvented YouTube’s technological measures to avoid piracy. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes provision for cases exactly like this.

Traditionally, fair use laws have allowed creators to reference and utilize material in their original works with legal protection. AI music transgresses these boundaries because AI can be trained on existing work without any protections in place. The average artist might fear that their work will be plagiarized by AI at any given moment.

Using AI to filter out voices, grainy vocals on the last track The Beatles played together were restored to release the official song “Now and Then.” Though the Beatles have control over their own voice, the same cannot be said for the average artist, who likely lacks the funds to fight copyright battles.

AI companies, like Suno, have outright stated that their AI tools train on copyrighted material and might regurgitate such material. However in their view, that is simply how the music industry is set to evolve. If such companies can take without impunity, artists will lose the ability to protect their art, a disaster at the crux of creativity.

Ultimately, human beings are creative creatures. We create rhythm, poetry, and music to communicate something deeper than rigid words. AI in music threatens that creativity, causing ethical and legal problems for creators and consumers. While we have always integrated technology into our lives, are we reaching a point where that technology is depriving us of something innate to our being. As the conversations around AI continue to expand, we are only set to encounter more challenges. And so, while machines may be able to make music, only humans can make it matter.