Nick Cave uses ChatGPT to rank his 15 best songs
Nick Cave, an outspoken critic of artificial intelligence in music, has used ChatGPT to rank his 15 best songs.
Taking to his Red Hand Files newsletter, Cave wrote: “Last month I posted questions from three people –– Aotearoa, Adrian, and Daphne –– who were looking for a way to navigate my immense and bewildering back catalogue.”
The Australian musician explained how he didn’t feel equipped to answer the question and turned to AI to help solve the problem.
He adds that he did not feel best placed to judge his own music, so instead, asked fans to send in playlists of their 15 favourite songs. “The response was overwhelming and well over two thousand playlists have come in so far,” Cave continued.
“Fearing drowning in my own songs, I handed the lists over to my team, who fed them into ChatGPT –– that handy little data-cruncher! –– which sorted through the responses and ranked the top 15,” he added. “A big thanks to everyone who sent in their playlists! I’m sure Aotearoa, Adrian and Daphne will find this of great help,” Cave concluded.
Only a few months ago, Cave used the same platform to warn his readers about the potential impact of AI. “I understand that ChatGPT is in its infancy, but perhaps that is the emerging horror of AI…This song sucks,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the New York Times, he commented: “It is more a kind of sad, disappointed feeling that there are smart people out there that actually think the artistic act is so mundane that it can be replicated by a machine. I find that insulting”.
See the ranked list below.
Nick Cave’s 15 best songs, according to ChatGPT
- ‘Jubilee Street’
- ‘Into My Arms’
- ‘From Her To Eternity’
- ‘The Ship Song’
- ‘Tupelo’
- ‘The Mercy Seat’
- ‘Stagger Lee’
- ‘Push The Sky Away’
- ‘The Weeping Song’
- ‘Higgs Boson Blues’
- ‘Red Right Hand’
- ‘Ghosteen’
- ‘Bright Horses’
- ‘Straight To You’
- ‘O Children’
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