During an appearance on an early edition of Balance Of Power, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons spoke to Bloomberg TV Washington correspondent Joe Mathieu about how artificial intelligence (A.I.) is revolutionizing the music industry through the use of A.I. music generators. These tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze existing music and create new compositions based on that analysis, including producing entire tracks using A.I.-generated music.
Asked if A.I. is a worry for him or not, Simmons said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net), “A.I. is a concern if left unregulated. Anything — a beautiful horse that you just bring in, if it runs wild… You’ve got to have some parameters that we control instead of A.I. Right now, there’s a country and western star that’s got a number one record of sorts on some chart. [The artist] doesn’t actually exist.”
“The major problem here, potentially, hypothetically and otherwise, is that if states have the right, and this has to be settled right away — the government must get a federal law that encompasses all of A.I. to get some sanity out of this,” Simmons explained. “Because if you can do A.I. legally in Delaware, where you have all your companies so you pay less taxes… Why should they wanna do real music and real art in New York when they can just go to Delaware and do A.I.? No. You need a federal law that encompasses the entire country. And I would highly recommend, and I would hope the entire planet really gets together. It’s an issue for the UN to get a world body to accept it, because it’s gonna happen to the same — same thing that happened to the unions in America. You charge too much here, so we’ll do business in China. No. You want to address the A.I. issue worldwide so we can control what the rules are, the comings and the going and what’s the income stream? Who owns the I.P.? Who’s the owner of the trademark?”
8 Responses
I think AI will be detrimental to most industries. Not to mention, the concern of who is writing the programming?
What if the soft ware has embedded biases, spreads lies or become rouge?
We are already seeing this, with foreign bot farms, that are pushing certain negative, racist propaganda. It is evident, in spades, on the Chinese owned app, Tiktok, but also under certain “influencers,” accounts (YouTube, X, etc.), who appear to have large “American” following and “support,” for their noxious messaging, but it is all fake. It’s a mirage, meant to influence group think, under what appears to be superficial and fallacious support, for that individual, “influencer.”
I know an argument can be made about progress, and “look at the Industrial Revolution, blah, blah, blah.” This is not the same. AI will put many people out of work, and then what?
It seems the only jobs, that I can think of off the top of my head, that might not be effected, would be plumbers and electricians.
AI. and robots, can take over most occupations: retail, factory and line workers, cooking, teaching, medicine, surgery and all of the artistic communities (radio and TV hosts/personalities, making TV, film, sports, music and actual art, such as painting, sculpting, etc.).
It’s a very frightening prospect, as my fiancee works in the music industry (he is a recording engineer/editor/mixer) and his job, could be replaced by AI, as the music, will all be made by AI artists.
Sorry, to sound so dystopian, but from where I sit, as of my writing this comment, I don’t believe anything positive will arise from the use of AI.
Dana, I agree with everything you just said! This AI shit is already out of control, NI (Natural Intelligence) is the only way to go! Past, present, and future! The more people rely on AI the dumber the world will become.
It’s been decades since we had a really great rock band come on the mainstream scene. I’m talking Van Halen caliber. I am not a fan of anything AI, either, but until new bands learn how to play well and have actual hooks in their songs, AI will move in and do it for them. There are no exciting bands anymore.
I get robo called by a very effeminate, I would say he’s gay, AI man on a daily basis trying to get me take out a loan. He has my file, and he’s ready to do business…lol…
LOL!!!
I think all humans desire authenticity. At some point AI will become boring and predictable and non-fulfilling. This may lead to bands going back to the garages, and maybe a new underground of original local live music will thrive. Ultimately people will want something real and want to create real memories. A life worth living is a life filled with memories.
Today’s bands are aging and there are no new bands out there to replace them. Concert tix are getting more expensive, band merchandise is getting more expensive. The music business, as we know it and grew up with, is slowly dying. Its hard to make money cuz nobody buys music anymore. AI WILL continue to slowly creep in and be a big part of music. I don’t like it, but that’s the way things are headed.
Rattle,
I agree, but once mankind opens that bottle, the genie can longer go back home.
I fear what will come from this, I see some positives (perhaps in medicine and disease treatment?), but far more negatives, as I stated due to employment replacement and implied biases.
What if someone ends up ill, and the robot doctor looks into your complete profile (your voting record, if you are a firearm owner, social media accounts, credit score, etc.) and it decides you are not compatible with it deems a proper citizen, and refuses to treat you?
Yeah, that is where I fear all of this is headed. It is similar to China’s credit score system, and if we end up on a centralized digital bank currency, it’s over, we have zero control of our lives.