The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on writing with AI: “I’m not opposed to it”
Wayne Coyne of American alt-rock band The Flaming Lips has shared his thoughts on working with AI. The Flaming Lips have been at the cutting edge of music and live performance for 40 years, organising the world’s first socially-bubbled concert during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During a recent conversation with i magazine, Coyne discussed The Flaming Lips’ 2002 song ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’, which tells the story of the titular character fending off androids “programmed to destroy us”. Coyne claimed that the song has been misinterpreted, explaining: “This idea that we’re the perfect humans and the machines are going to come in and ruin us – The Flaming Lips have never thought that way.”
Coyne was subsequently asked if he’d ever consider writing music with AI. “Um, probably not. Just because, we like writing songs,” he replied. “That’s part of the thrill of it. But I’m not opposed to it. I’ve never cared how you can arrive at your music. But there’s a lot of stuff that the robots can’t do for you. At some point in civilization, it must have seemed very advanced for someone to have paint and paintbrushes and canvases. But it doesn’t mean that everybody is a great painter.”
In 2021 The Flaming released Where The Viaduct Looms with Nell Smith. Below, you can check out Nell and The Flaming Lips’ cover of Nick Cave’s ‘Red Right Hand’.
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