Sting argues that artificial intelligence will never be able to replace human musicians.
The singer of Every Breath You Take says he does not view the technology as a threat, since it cannot replicate genuine human emotion.
During an appearance on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, he stated: “I think AI can produce perfectly serviceable pop music that you might hear in a railway station or hotel lobby, and you can hear it, but would you actually listen to it?”
“Because AI has never had its heart broken, it doesn’t possess a personal story, it borrows one, so you’re not truly hearing a song.”
“So, in that sense, I don’t sense any competition yet; people still want to attend live gigs, they want to see a human being, a fallible, vulnerable person who can make mistakes rather than a machine that never errs.”
Nevertheless, the 74-year-old rock icon cautioned that there is a “danger right now with AI potentially destroying the labour economy.”
Many musicians have voiced worries about the rise of AI, while others have welcomed the technology.
Myles Kennedy recently said he refuses to use AI to assist in writing songs.
The Alter Bridge frontman insisted that there is “nothing better” than crafting a hit, and he does not want to “cheat” the process by letting artificial intelligence lend a hand.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, he said: “I will absolutely refuse to treat it as a ‘writing tool’. That, to me, is… So wait, you’d rely on something that scans the entire internet, takes other people’s work, and then somehow that becomes your… AI’s now your collaborator?”
“I’ve been writing for the last ten weeks simply because I’ve had a bit of downtime, and there is nothing I love more than writing—period. Nothing.”
“So why would I deny myself the joy of the great scavenger hunt? That’s how I see it.”
“You’re trying to solve problems and search for parts, navigating through all this stuff, and when you finally find it, it feels like finding gold.”
“There’s nothing better, in terms of the satisfaction you gain.”
“I suppose I’m a bit old school.”
“But there are other people who’ll say, ‘You know what? I use AI, and it helps me write, and I’m more prolific because of it.’
And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, if that works for you, good for you.’ But I’m not jumping on that bandwagon.”
Myles—who has written for Alter Bridge and Slash of Guns N’ Roses—finds the craft of songwriting “so fascinating” and “very obsessive,” and says he would feel “lost” without it.
On the other side of the spectrum, Boy George has also created songs using AI.
