As artificial intelligence (AI) usage begins to flood into schools, businesses, and the media, several concerns have been brought up. Specifically, the question of whether AI generation is ethical when looking at works of art.
Artists have many different methods for developing their music. For example, Studio Theatre states that The Beatles used complex layering of their songs to create music that had never been heard before. With AI, it is not the same. According to the College of Music, AI uses the patterns in existing songs to generate new ideas from them. This means that AI is generating a new song, but not a new idea, since it has to replicate patterns.
According to Carved Culture, the song “Concrete Angel” by Martina McBride is about child abuse and unimaginable pain, conveying emotional depth and heartbreak. This gives a look into the complex emotions that can be felt by humans as a result of situations that they are in, which gives humanity a connection to songs. With AI, however, it cannot convey the same amount of emotion because AI can only generate ideas based on patterns and ideas that have been previously stated, according to the College of Music. This means AI does not understand the full context or severity of a subject, leading to less emotion in songs.
AI generation is not original and does not actually create new music or ideas, but it instead just adapts to the prompt and information that it is given to create a song based on other songs. This leads to another discussion surrounding AI usage breaking copyright laws, because the Kluwer Copyright Blog states that AI can infringe on copyright laws due to the way that AI sources its information, which it then uses to generate its own creations.
A private piano teacher, Zini Xu, studied music theory in college and has been teaching piano and music structure to students for about 10 years. As a music teacher, she views AI as a quick fix and as a tool, but not as a replacement for true musical creativity.
“AI is a tool that can be used if something is needed quickly and without detail, like fast food; it’s just a simple fix. It is also especially useful for people who don’t know how to create music, but AI is not art because there is no real creativity behind it,” Xu said.
Xu also views AI as a mere convenience for people, and that if it is abused, it can be unethical and seen as not real.
“It is just something that is quick, and people tend to like quick things, and that is why we have things like pop-ups, to satisfy needs quickly and efficiently. It can also be used as a side assistant for organization, and then anything more than that is not real art,” Xu said.
A Carlmont High School sophomore, Miriam Kurtic, is currently a member of the Carlmont Jazz Band, Symphonic Band, and Symphony Orchestra, where she plays the trombone. As a musician herself, she views AI as a greater harm to the music creation industry.
“I don’t like it. I think that music is such a difficult job for a person to pursue in life, and it means so much to be made by humans,” Kurtic said.
Ophelia Rymill, a sophomore, is currently a member of the Carlmont String Orchestra, where she plays the cello. As a musical artist, she finds that AI usage in music is unethical.
“I feel like it takes away from the creativity that artists have put into their work, and from how hard they have to work to get a positive outcome,” Rymill said.
For Kurtic, music holds much significance because of the level of work that goes into it, and she does not want to see it overrun by AI trying to replace her.
“Music is my joy, and if I were to hear something not human making jazz music, I would be so upset because it’s taking away opportunities from talented people who worked really hard to get to the talent level that they are,” Kurtic said.
