Diplo says musicians are “not going to win” the fight against AI: “You’re wasting your time”
Producer Diplo has told musicians they are fighting a losing battle against AI.
Diplo, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, made the controversial comments in a recent episode of a podcast about the art of songwriting with Daniel Wall.
The Major Lazer musician explained how he had incorporated AI into his own work, sharing, “I don’t even need a voice anymore, I can just get replay, I can just get the best voice from AI. I don’t need to sing the song any more.”
The producer added, “You’re not going to win. Like there’s no there’s no like fighting AI. You have to just work your best to be the best at it right now. You’re wasting your time. You’re just wasting a year being like ‘ah,’ because everybody else is going to just use it, not give a fuck what you think.”
He then claimed that history will be kind to those who share his stance, continuing, “It’s proven every time that technology wins, like the people’s attitudes and the people’s pushback always age out pretty badly. You have to make it so you understand the customer and the accessibility is what’s always going to be triumphant.”
Diplo then likened the use of AI in music to the American economy in a broader sense, adding, “We want to say that we want healthy foods, but we want cheap, we want to have things quick, that’s what music also runs that same golden hand of the economy.”
After the clip went viral on X, with Diplo receiving praise from the AI community and backlash from those who prefer their art to come from humanity, he doubled down on his stance in a separate post on April 14th.
The Silk City member wrote, “If you are a creative you need to adapt or just like give up and become an Uber driver until everyone has a Waymo. I know it’s not cool or classy to speak like this but i’m not gonna candy coat the future – it is what it is.”
He continued, “Sorry for bad new’s my purist. There will always need a human mind and touch because AI will never suffer from bipolar disorder and autism like me and other creative people.”
More and more notable musicians seemingly feel comfortable sharing that they are using AI as a songwriting aid, such as Boy George, who recently made the admission.
However, publicly, the critics of AI in the arts still vastly outweigh the number of supporters, with David Byrne recently saying on BBC Newsnight that it “is basically stealing a lot of copyright material, which is basically illegal”.
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