Two of the most influential figures in modern music have spoken up in favour of AI in music.
Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre – for it is they – have given an interview with the New York Times, in which they were asked in detail about the technology. Iovine was positively gung-ho, saying: “I’m very pro-AI in music creation. I don’t see the downside at all. There will be some crappy music. There’s crappy music now. In the studio, when gifted people have AI, they’re going to make better records.”
“The AI companies have the worst public relations in the history of the world,” he pointed out. “I don’t know the history of the world, but let’s just put it this way: They have terrible communication skills. That’s why everybody is all up in arms.”
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Meanwhile Dre says, somewhat nonchalantly: “I don’t see it as a threat. I think the only people that see it as a threat are the people who have trouble creating.”
It seems the producer views it as just another piece of gear: “I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago. They were against AI and I’m like, ‘OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out.’ Or synthesizers, right? It’s a new tool for creativity. Some people are afraid of learning new things. I’m embracing it. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with this.”
The two men have worked together since the early 1990s when Iovine’s Interscope label backed Dre’s solo albums, which rewrote the rules of hip-hop. In the Noughties, the pair launched the Beats By Dre headphones brand, which was acquired by Apple in 2014.
Both men say that they use AI. In fact, Iovine suggests that there are a lot of producers out there who are “closet” AI users. “They’re using it, they just don’t want to admit it,” adds Dre.
Iovine admits that he uses it all day. When asked what was the last thing he asked it, he reeled off a list: “The last thing I asked was what’s going on with democratic socialism. And another thing I asked was about David Byrne’s setlist. And about the absorption of iron in your body and the timing of it. And as far as iron’s concerned, shrimp versus tuna?”
As for Dre he asked how you put on muscle and lose fat. But revealingly, he says that the bot told him “nothing that I didn’t already know.”
