Robbie Williams songwriter Guy Chambers hits out at AI in the music industry
Guy Chambers, who has written songs for the likes of Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue, has said that the presence of advancing artificial intelligence technology in the music industry is “terrifying”.
The songwriter, who is best known for collaborating with Williams over the last two decades, expressed concern that AI technology has the potential to replace songwriters during a talk for music and entertainment industry apprentices at the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies in Nottingham.
“I think we may get to a stage in the future where an album will need to have a badge saying ‘this is an all-human record’,” he said. [via The Guardian]
“From what I’ve seen of AI, the acceleration is pretty terrifying, in terms of what it can do and how it could replace songwriters.
“Any person could put into an AI programme something like ‘I want a song 100 BPM that sounds like a cross between ABBA and Arctic Monkeys’. And some music will be created and it will be pretty good.
“Or someone might say: ‘Can you also write me a lyric that’s a funny take on fast food’ and a pretty good lyric will come out. This is just going to get better and better as AI gets more and more intelligent.”
He continued: “We now use so much software that’s probably being helped by AI, it would be quite hard to do a completely organic analogue record these days. Of course, there are also benefits to this, and I think there will be incredible tie-ins with AI that we can’t even imagine now. But also I think there are lots of potential dangers and I’m worried that young musicians might get lazy, and in this business you’re not going to get anywhere if you’re lazy.”
When asked for his advice to young musicians, he said: “Be flexible. Have as many skills as possible because you’re going to need them. That’s my main message. My other advice to young musicians is to have as many strings to their bow as possible. They need to have very personal skills, like charm and hustle.”
The A.I. phenomenon has polarised the music industry, with many artists stating their stance on the matter. Recently, Bad Bunny was angered by an A.I.-generated collaboration between him and Justin Bieber that went viral. Also, ABBA‘s Bjorn Ulvaeus said that the technology will be “another very serious, existential challenge” that “will radically change the world for creators and the creative industry”. Some artists believe that artificial intelligence is good for the creative industry. David Guetta said that “the future of music is in AI” after showing off an A.I.-generated Eminem verse in a DJ set in February
In other AI news, last month Sophie Ellis-Bextor had to warn fans about a recent AI scam that features her music.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
