The rock ‘n’ roll legend is issuing a warning against AI, stating, “It has no heart, it has no feel, has no soul to it, and that’s where it dies right there.”
Appearing on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Alice Cooper predicts the creation of ‘fake rock stars’ with the technological advancement of AI, saying it can essentially create a marketable, profitable artist from a few commands.
The rise of AI music is not only flooding the music market and damaging real emerging musicians, but Cooper states that the music industry is heading into treacherous legal waters: “You watch that happen, because the guy that just suggested what it should be did not write the songs.”
Though AI is heading in a troubling direction for musicians, Cooper does acknowledge its lack of humanity, experience and emotion, “The one thing it can’t do – it’s never been in love. It’s never had its heart broken. It’s never been angry. It’s never been happy.”
The messiness of life cannot be fully articulated with the simplicity of words. The lack of a quiver in a main melody, the imperfections and innate humanness of lyricism and complexity in production–AI can never touch that.
He states, “It only knows words… But it has no emotion. It has no heart, it has no feel, has no soul to it, and that’s where it dies right there.”
AI artist Sienna Rose went viral at the end of last year for its bluesy, soul infused music, only to be exposed as completely fictitious.
With no social media presence or evidence of live music performance, streaming services like Deezer analysed and flagged many of her songs and albums as computer-generated.
I remember coming across the music when it went viral, and though I enjoyed the first few listens, it slowly revealed itself as bland and lifeless.
So AI music will exist now, that is unavoidable, but we must separate what is made from hard work, blood, sweat and tears, with humanity, love and the messiness of life incorporated, from the output of a soulless computer-generated prompt.
