AI-generated music has caused quite a stir in the music industry, especially after the Drake/The Weeknd mashup went viral on TikTok. Now musicians are weighing in.
Grimes is all-in on AI, having already used the tech to create a digitized version of her voice that can be used to create music. But not everyone agrees with using artificial intelligence to re-create a human voice. Sting recently spoke with the BBC and says he considers it a battle to defend organic creative work against the rise of AI-generated work.
Now, in an interview with Full Send, Ice Cube shared his opinion on AI-generated music and why it’s not the future of the industry. The hosts of the show asked Ice Cube to weigh in on The Weeknd/Drake viral track, “Heart On My Sleeve” that went viral on social media. The rapper called AI mashups like this ‘demonic’, adding, “I don’t wanna hear an AI Drake song. Yeah. I don’t wanna hear that bullshit. He should sue whoever made it.”
Ice Cube continues by saying that he would sue anyone who created an AI-generated voice of him, adding that he considers it akin to sampling without permission.
“Imma sue the motherf*cka who made it and the people and the platform who play it,” the rapper continues. “It’s like a sample. Somebody can’t take your original voice and manipulate it without having to pay. I think AI is demonic, I think AI is going to get a backlash from organic people.”
That backlash from ‘organic people’ is already starting. One of the demands of the writers represented by the Writers Guild of America are guarantees that their writers’ rooms won’t be replaced with AI script generators that they’re hired to ‘brush up’ rather than writing from scratch. Meanwhile, UMG, WMG, and Sony have turned to enforcement measures to make sure AI-created tracks aren’t dominating Spotify’s playlists, either.