AI Jazz?

I recently came across a peculiar jazz video on YouTube.

It was advertised as “Vintage Retro Jazz Classics,” so I thought I was in for more some nice classics.

Then it struck me that these were all new songs that I had never heard before. And they were pretty good.

I got pretty excited, because I am always looking for people writing new jazz songs in old styles. But when I tried to look up the song titles in Google, I couldn’t find any of them, let alone the artists behind them.

Then it hit me. “This is AI,” I thought to myself. Not just the visuals, not just the lyrics. Everything. The voices. The melodies. The instrumentation. Everything about it, 100% generated by AI. Not actual artists except the guy using some kind of AI music app to spit out these videos by the hundreds. Yikes!

When I started listening more, another thing struck me. Some of these voices sound awfully familiar. One particular AI generated voice struck me as a Melody Gardot knockoff, another struck me as a Stacey Kent impersonator. It then further dawned on me that AI is using actual real singers, songs, instrumentation and videos as the input to create their fake voices and instrumentals.

As you can see, I asked the creator of this particular video some questions (in the comments under the video). He responded to one of my posts and then declined to comment further. Probably because I was right. The AI he is using IS ripping off the artists in questions (entirely without their consent, by the way). This is 100% illegal, but, just as with the initial advent of YouTube, where copyrighted works were posted without permission by the hundreds of thousands, Big Tech is turning a blind eye to the new AI generated violations of copyright, rights to likeness (which include one’s image and voice), etc etc. Because they thrive on any content that bring them more business.

Yikes.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not against technology or even the use of AI in art. I have seen artists do the most wonderful things with AI in recent years, using it in ways that truly create amazing art and even new art forms. AI after all, like any other piece of technology is just a tool. In the hands of a master, it can do incredible things. And like any tool, it can be used for both good and evil, depending on the intent.

So where does that leave us artist?

Probably in the same place where technology has always left us: in a position where we need to come up with something new and original yet familiar enough that it doesn’t completely alienate, something that communicates and touches people’s hearts, something that creates an invisible, almost magical connection from one human soul to another. Something that feels REAL whereas the means and tools of its creation are mostly illusionary. (That is where the magic comes in.)

In the mean time, a myriad of these AI jazz channels have sprung up on YouTube, generating hundreds of not thousands of videos. Judging from the comments beneath those videos, the vast majority of listeners haven’t even caught on yet that they aren’t listening to actual artists. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens if and when they do.

It could be that after some time, the novelty of these things will wear off. I myself personally enjoyed listening for about 10 minutes and seeing all the different iterations of songs that the AI came up with. However, when I realized that this was all computer-generated with the push of a button, and that none of it was actually real, I have to admit that my interest rather quickly waned. The lyrics, instrumentation, and other elements also (still) have a somewhat electronic and repetitive quality to them.

That leads me to another question: what makes art valuable?

This is a very interesting topic that I have done a lot of work on over the last few years, and I plan on sharing my thoughts on some of that in the next few months.

In the mean time, I would love to hear what you think. Do you like this new AI-generated jazz vocal music? Is it something you would listen to in the background for one or two hours? Or does the fact that you know there is no actual singer (or songwriter) behind it diminish its value in your opinion?

And if you are an artist, is it affecting the making of your art or thoughts about your future in a (positive or negative) way?

I’d love to hear it.

We do live in extraordinary times at the moment. Let’s navigate them together.