Billy Corgan commits to anti-AI stance: “We’re asking to be eradicated”
Billy Corgan has made his viewpoint on AI usage for music-making clear, deeming it a “deal with the devil”.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman explained his viewpoint on the technology while appearing on the podcast And the Writer Is…
He shared his staunch commitment to being anti-AI by revealing matter-of-factly, “I refuse, refuse, patently refuse to use AI in my music creation.”
He explained, “To me, it’s a deal with the devil. Simple. Whether it’s the Promethean fire myth or whatever, to me, you’re literally leaning into the thing that will destroy you. Period.”
Corgan suggested that many of the issues artists are turning to AI to eradicate are actually a fundamental part of art creation.
He shared that “the pressure, the inspiration, the soul searching, the ‘I’m not sure I got anything else to say’” is “all part of the journey that a songwriter needs to go through”.
In comparison, the 59-year-old prefers working with humans, explaining that he ought to work with “a real person with real feelings and real blood coursing through their veins.”
He went on, “And maybe someday we’re gonna argue about a publishing split. But if we’re arguing, it means there’s something of value that we’re arguing over.”
Corgan elaborated, “It’s good that a songwriter’s not sure they have anything left to say, it’s good that a songwriter has to think of a new chord that they haven’t thought of. That’s where the magic comes from, and until that is proven otherwise, I’m sticking with the game I’m in.”
Corgan’s warning didn’t end there. He admonished, “We’re flirting with the thing that will destroy us as an economy, as a business, as a movement. We’re asking to be eradicated. We’re giving them our information. They already have all our other information.”
In a similar vein, previous Talking Heads frontman David Byrne accused AI of “sucking up human knowledge,” though he did admit to finding it a “useful tool in a limited way”.
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