Beats by a Bot: AI Music Covers
Article By Michaela Smith, University Union Productions Board | Photo By Getty
If your TikTok For You Page is anything like mine, there isn’t a day that goes by where a cartoon character or a controversial politician singing an unpredicted rap song doesn’t appear.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has become an increasingly popular tech in academic research and humor. AI has spread far beyond ChatGPT writing your essays for you, and its advanced features have begun to impact the creative field of musical production.
The first viral instance of artificial intelligence in popular culture music is “Heart on My Sleeve,” an AI-generated song utilizing deep fake technology to mimic the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. At first listen, the two Canadian performers easily perceive this song as an authentic production.
Due to the deceiving reaction it inspired, the non-existent song by TikTok user @ghostwriter977 received millions of likes before being removed from streaming services and the social media platform.
BBC has estimated that from solely Spotify streams, the person behind @ghostwriter977 likely made a profit of around $2,000. This has raised numerous questions surrounding the ethicality of artificial intelligence in songs and whether or not this can be considered harmless entertainment.
Since these AI users are able to benefit from monetary gain through using the voice and popularity of famed artists, these stars have had some negative opinions to share regarding the software.
Drake reposted an AI cover depicting his voice falsely covering the viral song “Munch” by female rapper Ice Spice, stating to his followers that that was his “last straw.” Ed Sheeran said in an interview, “If you’re taking a job away from a human being, I think that’s probably a bad thing.”
I decided to test the ease of creating covers through artificial intelligence using the website covers.ai. This website was the first available click after a Google search, and the ease of commanding A-List celebrity Kim Kardashian’s AI voice to sing me whatever song file I chose was shocking.
All that was required to produce the cover was providing my email address, and the service was cost-free. That being said, I am curious about how many additional steps are required for users such as @ghostwriter997, who are producing original music and only adding existing voices to these productions.
Is there a fine line between using artificial intelligence harmlessly in music for TikTok laughs versus financially benefiting from another person's talent and fame, or should artificial intelligence have zero place in creative musical pop culture? AI is a technology that will not be going anywhere any time soon, and time will only tell how it will continue to snowball into affecting every field of work.
