r/composer • u/Krale_EDM • 4h ago
Discussion A more hopeful perspective on the AI situation
I’d like to put another perspective out there on the whole AI situation given how much anxiety there is around how it will affect composers and other career creatives. I feel it’s important to remember that as artists we hold a skill set that will only grow in value and importance to society, even if not applied to a career. I think in the medium to long term we’re in a massive upheaval/transition on what it means to have a career in general, how closely that defines who we are, our general purpose, and our sense of self.
To that end I would really encourage every career musician and composer to consider that we work in an industry that is one of the most sacred to what it means to be human, and because of that we’ve built and honed a skill set that has more intangible human meaning than most other career paths. As AI becomes more and more capable, intangible human taste and creativity will become more and more valuable to society than it is now.
Even if we ever get to a point where AI can write “better” music than anyone from scratch, music and the arts in general could become the bastion for the meaning and value of humanity in general because their quality is so subjective and undefined. How “better” music is defined will just shift to what better represents human creativity. We have spent our lives honing a skill to create things with little to no objective definition of quality. There is no “optimal” art or music and I think that’s where the value truly lies.
Many of the STEM fields and other career paths are a means to find the optimal solution to a problem. There is an objective best way to build a bridge with a given spec, a set budget, and a set amount of materials available. So much of our economy has valued figuring those kinds of things out over artistry, and a world where AI can find those optimal solutions for us will devalue those skills much faster than the subjective human creativity we’ve taught ourselves to explore.
I’d also like to point out a positive trend I’ve seen in those around me too. I’ve noticed people are taking more time to reflect on what really matters to them in life as this major shift takes place. I’ve seen more emotional growth and enlightenment in myself and those close to me in the last year or two than in the decade prior.
Things are moving incredibly quickly and it’s naturally very scary, but in a bit of an ironic twist, our insistence on pursuing a suboptimal artistic career path may have positioned us better for this new paradigm than going the traditionally and economically safe route our parents would’ve maybe preferred.
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u/FreTunes68 3h ago edited 57m ago
Regrettably, I strongly disagree.
While I think there will always be a minority of people who feel this way and who are knowledgeable enough to make these kinds of distinctions, I think history shows that most people don’t really know or care how their music gets made.
Each progressive wave of technology has put more musicians out of work. Think about juke boxes and DJs replacing live music in most venues and social functions.
Think about virtual instruments replacing actual session musicians in a lot of film, video game and commercial work. AI playback engines capable of more realistic, “human” performances will certainly accelerate this trend.
You don’t think producers/studios will gladly let AI generate a score? You think the average moviegoer or television viewer is going to care?
Yes, at the very top end of the spectrum there will be a few artists who may be appreciated for their artistry or “humanity” but the impact overall will be to shrink the opportunities available to all but a few even further.
Ask yourself this: to what extent has our supposed human desire for connection been a hedge against technology in the other arts?
How many people today value human creativity and connection and artistry so much that they’re willing to pay painters and sculptors for artwork to decorate their homes or architects to design them, or tailors and shoemakers to make their clothes, or skilled carpenters and upholsterers to make their furniture.
Only a very few and only at the top of the socio-economic spectrum.
And those who take comfort in the current cost and (lack of) quality of AI should remember that the trend in technology (whether talking about televisions, video players, or AI) has always been that the technology gets better and the price drops precipitously.
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u/vibrance9460 2h ago
Yes. Add to that the diminishing number of young people willing to spend years of their lives mastering an art form.
The kids coming up today are definitely not gonna wanna do that. Especially when the computer can do it. “better”
Sure people will always seek out human made music, but it will be very niche, like record collectors are today.
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u/FreTunes68 2h ago edited 2h ago
Let’s face it, outside of film and commercial work, how much of a market/audience is there for serious, composed art music or even big band Jazz as it is.
It’s already niche!
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u/vibrance9460 2h ago
True for our generation but the one coming up- the market will shrink again, and get even smaller.
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u/FriendlyActuary1955 2h ago
The scariest part is that from say 2050 we simply won’t know what is “human made music” anymore, outside of a live performed context. “I composed this theme/piece” will in the future be a statement which will be impossible to verify, if it isn’t already today.
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u/vibrance9460 2h ago
Seriously- this will be happening in 2-3 years
AI in the next 6-8 months will go “recursive” which means it will be programming itself, top to bottom.
At that point the increase in capabilities will be truly astonishing. It’s already happening behind the scenes at the top three AI companies.
Many employees are scared out of their wits.
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u/endium7 3h ago
I don't think we have much to worry about, and right now this AI stuff is truly more expensive to run than they are letting on. It's not a given that it will just be more economical to use it.
Where I have to disagree is, maybe if you're implying that careers as a composer could somehow become more stable or lucrative, I think the opposite will still be true. We have already been on that path, rather, and AI will only aid it.
But I don't really see this as a us vs. them, which career is going to be better and the like. We all have to support each other.
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u/FriendlyActuary1955 3h ago
“How “better” music is defined will just shift to what better represents human creativity.”
The trouble is that, like many, you’re only looking at the short term threat that AI poses in the next decade or so. What about in 50 years? AI may well have developed to the point where nobody can hear what is human made and what is not?
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u/FriendlyActuary1955 3h ago
The trouble with the confidence displayed in these type of posts is that they only ever seem to hold at max 10-20 years into the future.
But what about future generations? To my mind the greatest challenge is that in 50 or 100 years, AI across the arts may have upgraded/improved to the point that it is capable of writing music that (to 99.99% of listeners at least) is indistinguishable from that of a professional composer of any given genre. Same for novels of course. Which will then lead to an unsolvable uncertainty of authorship.
“Did the Hans Zimmer of the year 2085 REALLY compose this new score? Or did he just ‘compose’ it in 5 minutes followed by a ‘technical’ team doing a couple of hours of further AI assisted edits”.
Only the artist him/herself will know … or possibly care. That’s what’s scary about it to me.
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u/michaelhuman 4h ago
I’m not worried literally at all.
Music libraries aren’t touching anything related to gen ai.
People are already conditioned to hear what ai music sounds like.
I’m skilled enough to know I can make something 5000% way more unique and interesting than what suno can.
Bubble is going to pop.
“Music is the language of humankind”