Is AI music unethical or the future?

The controversy surrounding the high-profile signing, and then quick ditching, of an AI (artificial intelligence) hip-hop artist has heightened the debate about what place the technology has in the industry.

Cyborg artist FN Meka, whose creators say is a real singer’s voice but with lyrics that are created through artificial intelligence, was signed by Capitol Records. However, in an embarrassing about-turn, the label quickly dropped the rapper because of the extensive social media backlash about racial stereotyping and the overuse of the N-word in the lyrics.

Robot rapper FN Meka has a following of millions on social media who also watch the over-the-top animated antics of the cyborg musician on TikTok.

The racial controversy aside, what is the upshot of such AI? Is it contrived? Does it matter? What’s the worst-case scenario in the years to come for real human artists and live performance?

“Is it unethical or phony to have an AI artist?” a skeptical Ara, the morning co-host on 103.1 Beach Radio told Kelowna10. “Well, with hip-hop you’re usually telling a story of where you’re from, your surroundings, and what makes you pop. I don’t know. Now you’re plugging it into a computer and it’s pumping out whatever it feels like?”

It's all been done before

There’s nothing new about musical artists not quite being who they really are while playing make-believe on stage or during a so-called live TV performance.

Much has been said about the likes of Britney Spears, Madonna, or the Back Street Boys partially lip-syncing their concerts. Or much further back in time, before video tape was invented, how about Elvis pretending to play guitar on TV when it was actually a session musician playing in the background? On another level, did British artists in the 60s and 70s put on American accents to try to break into the market?

However, as long as the music is good, or there’s a big enough consumer following, does it matter if it’s real or artificial?

“You had [British virtual band] Gorillaz, and [Canadian duo] Prozzäk from back in the day, who are a bunch of musicians who came together, did an animated thing; they even had animated shows where you pay $20 and they beam it into various arenas,” Ara explains.

And then of course there’s mega pop group Abba, who have taken one of the biggest leaps forward in technology and can now be watched at their live prime best in their digital avatar form on a specially built stage.

But these are all examples of bands or artists who are indeed ‘real’ and are using modern methods to continue to entertain fans.

What about music that is claimed to be created using AI, not by a real human being sweating over a lyric sheet?

Ara says in the worst case scenario there are potential ramifications longer term. Artists could be sidelined and of course the record companies stand to make massive profits.

“The record companies don’t have to pay artists anymore. They just pocket all the money themselves.

“They can pay a team to write several songs but there’s no artist. If someone said to me, ‘here’s 20-grand, write a song, we’re going to create an AI artist and you don’t have anything to do with it afterwards,’ I have my 20-grand, what do I care?”

And what of the future of live shows? Is the ABBA hologram show, or the antics of AI rapper FN Meka a taste of what’s to come in a new world that could one day see us going to live concerts performed by people who never existed?

“I don’t think AI will replace live shows; the energy of a live, spontaneous show and you never know what’s going to happen from one minute to next,” Ara says.

“But if someone told me I can go and watch a Tupac [Shakur] concert for an hour, I’m going to go… and he’s been gone since 1996.”