Creative Media’s Peter Csathy explains how musician and entrepreneur will.i.am prompted him to consider the idea of “content as creative seeds in a generative AI world.” He reviews some of the potential positive and negative (and sometimes inadvertent) consequences of human creativity feeding generative AI. Listen to the full podcast episode of the brAIn podcast here or read on for highlights:
will.i.am shot to fame as front man for the Black Eyed Peas and, as far back as 2012, he told ABC News: “My instrument is the computer.” In recent years, even more of his energy has focused on technology and innovation, so it’s probably not shocking that he told CogX Festival LA attendees that the music “industry is technology.”
Csathy vehemently disagrees with will.i.am, arguing instead that “the music industry is and always has been artists and songs.” Fair enough, but he does concede that “technology, including generative AI, is an accelerant to modify the music, multiply the artist’s possibilities and amplify their and their music’s voices. But it is not technology first.”
Today, will.i.am says he identifies as “a seeder” and an “ideator,” leveraging generative AI as an “amplification tool,” according to Csathy.
Within this framework, Csathy observes, “the seeder is still important. The person that breathes life into an idea for a system to multiply it.”
Ideally, will.i.am believes, GenAI will offer “agency to dreamers.” Csathy doesn’t deny that there is truth to this, but also cautions that creators who have previously “established themselves and their brand and boast existing mass fan bases” are likely to disproportionately benefit.
Csathy warns that the talented but unknown artists may be “overwhelmed by the accelerating tsunami of content,” fueled in large part by generative AI.
Nonetheless, will.i.am is not alone in this thinking. Csathy notes that the artist Grimes was early out of the gate in embracing genAI’s amplification (and monetization) potential. Rather than bemoaning that LLMs hoovered up her music without permission or compensation, she embraced it, launching Elf.tech mere months after ChatGPT’s public introduction.
Grimes’ music platform enables fans and other musicians to utilize “her voice and music stems” at no cost, with the condition that she will share in half of the royalties for any (commercially successful) derivative content. Music Promo Today has more details on how this works in practice (yes, blockchain is involved).
Famously “tech forward,” this move also had the benefit of pleasing her fanbase and extending her brand awareness. Csathy says: “These fan-created derivative works arguably complement rather than cannibalize Grimes’ own music market.
“Her fans still anxiously await her new music precisely because they want to experience her unique human personality and latest complete, authentic and wholly original creative work.”
At least in theory, Csathy says, “There is no reason that other forms of creativity, including written, audio and visual works, can’t follow the same path.”
In practice, he doubts this approach would be as successful for undiscovered creatives as it might be for established brands and well known franchises (ahem Marvel ahem).
More isn’t always better, for consumers or for creators. Concerns have already been raised that “It’s increasingly difficult to break out from the increasing content noise.”
Aside from the discoverability problem, others have expressed concern that AI-generated content “ultimately leads to mediocrity and conformity.” Certainly, we need to consider “If the only seeds that come to life…are those generated by pre-existing franchise creators and IP, what happens to true creative evolution and originality?”
And none of this considers the legal battles being waged by artists, media organizations, publishers and others. In fact, GenAI music company Udio (in which will.i.am invests) is currently being sued by all three major labels and the RIAA, alleging copyright infringement.
Csathy notes that the company says its models are trained “‘publicly available data’ and reports all around indicate that will almost certainly mean recorded music at a grand scale without any consent whatsoever.”
So, yes, there’s usually something to be said for being an early adopter — but doing so with solid legal advice is also recommended.
Regardless, GenAI has transformed the creative landscape, and anyone who works in media and entertainment should consider how they plan to leverage it and mitigate potential downsides.
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