Cait Stoddard July 17th, 2023 - 3:00 PM
According to blabbermouth.net, during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, KISS‘s bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons was asked if he is happy or worried about the use of artificial intelligence in the music business.
“Music business aside, I am concerned about the lack of legislation. When you enter a new, let’s say a new planet, you’re about to land on a new planet, well, clearly there’s opportunity there, there are minerals and things — all kinds of opportunities. Without rules of the game… It’s like playing sports without rules. Who’s gonna do what? You need some rules that are kind and beneficial to mankind, womankind, transkind, all kinds of kinds. Okay, does that cover everybody?” said Simmons.
The guitarist adds: “The problem with AI is not… AI is here, whether you like it or not. So let’s look at it smartly and let’s pass legislation. AI creates a song using my voice, or what sounds like my voice, with a new song, and it sounds just like me and it definitely sounds like that kind of a thing. So when you buy it, who owns the copyright and the publishing, if AI did that? So, is it me, because it sounds like me? You could swear it was me. So these are uncharted territories.”
Simmons is not the only musician who has expressed concern or excitement about the potential risks, challenges and benefits associated with the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. In a recent interview with Canada’s The Metal Voice, VOIVOD drummer Michel Langevin expressed his thought about the use of AI in music.
“Technology, I will always try to use it as much as I can, [including] for my visuals and all that. AI videos, I’m jealous because it would take me three thousand years to do it frame by frame. But what I’m most afraid of, really, is AI controlling high-tech weaponry; that’s my main fear. And it’s funny because in the ’70s, as a kid, I saw a movie called ‘Colossus[: The Forbin Project]‘ about that — about a giant super computer in the USA teaming up with a giant super computer in Russia. They take control of the nuclear weapons and enslave humanity.” said Langevin.
This past April Universal Music had a song called “Heart On My Sleeve,” which used faked vocals from their artists Drake and The Weeknd The song was removed from the streaming services by claiming in a statement that “the training of generative AI using our artists’s music” was “a violation of copyright law”.
Pop singer Grimes recently said she would “split 50% royalties on any successful AI-generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist I collab[orate] with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty.”
Photo Credit: Gary Moratz
