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Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Musicians in the Future? ROSEANNA
By Roseanna
It is easy to worry about the implications Artificial Intelligence may have on the jobs of musicians, but have you ever considered the possibility of it augmenting the music industry, rather than replacing humans?
In a time of ever-changing musical culture and trends, Artificial Intelligence and its tools seem to be rising through the music industry. When you hear about ‘AI and music’, it is likely that you think of robots creating and composing music. This understandably comes together with a fearful and critical perception of robots replacing human composers and performers, but is it likely that AI will replace musicians in the future, and which factors could potentially lead to this?
Is performance a limitation for Artificial Intelligence, or is this just a human assumption? Since the start of the pandemic, fans have missed out on going to concerts. To fill the void, a company called Authentic Artists has introduced a large collection of AI-powered virtual artists who can deliver new musical experiences. Artificial Intelligence can reproduce the sound of an orchestra fairly easily and with a high degree of fidelity. Their animated virtual musicians generate original compositions to play on screen and respond to audience feedback. Performance is not a limitation for AI, but what about composition?
Beethoven’s 10th Symphony, no longer unfinished… Beethoven, the most renowned composer of all time, began to compose his 10th symphony before his death in 1827. Only a few handwritten notes briefly detailing his intentions for the piece survived, with most just being incomplete ideas or fragments of themes and melodies. Despite countless attempts, nobody was able to complete his 10th Symphony, until a group of music historians, composers, and computer scientists attempted to finish it using AI, and were successful. They taught a machine how to take a short phrase, or even just a motif, and use it to produce a more complicated musical structure, just as Beethoven would have done. Using Artificial Intelligence meant they were faced with the challenge of ensuring the work remained faithful to Beethoven’s vision for the piece. They were proven to be successful, as an audience of experts were unable to determine where Beethoven’s phrases ended, and Artificial Intelligence stepped in. The AI composed and orchestrated two complete movements, each over 20 minutes.
So, if it is possible for Artificial Intelligence to successfully finish the work of the greatest composer of all time, what is stopping it from replacing musicians altogether? The intent to form new concepts and convey them with a unique purpose has so far been an elusive element to AI, which is due to the inherent limitations of computers. Creativity stems from inspiration; it is not programmed or confined by the boundaries of linear thinking. The melodies and lyrics we hear in live performances are inspired by a collection of human emotions and experiences, whether a love, a loss or a loathe. Artificial Intelligence can’t produce anything truly impactful on its own, as computers lack emotional depth and sensitivity. A team of Chinese researchers set out to make Artificial Intelligence that could learn to write music based on existing pieces. It could recognise harmony, texture and form, but lacked certain elements of music composed by humans. Despite how convinced you might be that the latest pop hit was created by a machine rather than a human, getting Artificial Intelligence to understand the various aspects of music is easier said than done. Describing things like musical structure, texture, harmony and form can be difficult enough when speaking with somebody who does not study music theory, let alone a machine. Although Artificial Intelligence can achieve technical perfection, people who attend concerts want an emotional connection to the music. If Artificial Intelligence is only able to study patterns and compose based on those patterns, how is it going to create anything new? When you take a look at some of the most famous composers, they are famous precisely because they break the boundaries and patterns. This, alongside the inability to feel emotions and have a connection with the music it’s composing, is primarily why Artificial Intelligence could not replace musicians. www.sustainablereview.com/aimusic/
www.classicfm.com/composers/ beethoven/unfinished-tenthsymphony-completed-by-artificialintelligence/ www.sciencefocus.com/news/aibeethovens-symphony/ www.influencive.com/how-artificialintelligence-is-changing-the-musicindustry/ www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/8applications-ai-music-industry www.inverse.com/ entertainment/56750-jacob-batalonon-music-and-ai
www.rocknheavy.net/why-ai-willnever-fully-replace-human-madeart-bc83175083dc
www.forbes.com/sites/ bernardmarr/2021/05/14/ how-artificial-intelligence-ai-ishelping-musicians-unlock-theircreativity/?sh=775795177004
People gravitate towards music composed by humans because it gives insight into the mind of the person who composed it, in addition to the listener being able to relate to it on a
personal level. In conclusion, the role of composers is to create a unique voice that resonates with the ever-changing culture and trends. Although AI can easily analyse music and replicate its patterns, it is not the foundation of music composition. Composing music has no formula to it; it is the expression of emotions. It is unlikely that Artificial Intelligence will ever be able to create lyrics that are emotionally meaningful to humans, and it is also impossible for it to compose anything original.
