Slipknot’s Clown defends use of AI in music: “I’ve been using AI my whole life”
Slipknot‘s Shawn Crahan, known by his stage name Clown, has defended the use of artificial intelligence in music.
The percussionist with the heavy metal titans has described AI as “a professor in my pocket who only wants to do what I ask it” and also admitted that he’s “190 per cent” using the technology available.
Crahan made the comments in a new interview with The Escapist, and also said, “I’ve been using AI my whole life”, viewing it as simply the next advancement of technology.
The Slipknot member then described the process of how he turns his poems into songs with the assistance of AI, sharing, “Here are my words. Don’t change them. Don’t alter them. But show me some different ways to sing it.”
He then claimed, “What’s the difference between me pulling out my pocket producer… or me trying to get a famous producer that might not even work with me and could potentially cost me $150,000… who will only give me one or two ways – I’m not mentioning any names!”
The growing use of AI within the music and film industry has very few prominent supporters. Notably, in May, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Coldplay and Dua Lipa were among over 400 artists who called for the government to update copyright laws regarding AI.
Additionally, earlier this year, McCartney claimed the music industry would become like the “Wild West” if the government’s proposed AI plans were to be approved.
He added that the stakes are higher for emerging artists, noting, “We(’ve) got to be careful about it because it could just take over and we don’t want that to happen, particularly for the young composers and writers (for) who, it may be the only way they(’re) gonna make a career.”
Meanwhile, in the film industry, Leonardo DiCaprio recently questioned whether AI would ever be capable of creating meaningful art, stating to Time, “I think anything that is going to be authentically thought of as art has to come from the human being.”
DiCaprio used AI-music as an example of the tool being used incorrectly, adding, “Haven’t you heard these songs that are mashups that are just absolutely brilliant and you go, ‘Oh my God, this is Michael Jackson doing the Weeknd,’ or ‘This is funk from the A Tribe Called Quest song ‘Bonita Applebum,’ done in, you know, a sort of Al Green soul-song voice, and it’s brilliant.’ And you go, ‘Cool.’ But then it gets its 15 minutes of fame and it just dissipates into the ether of other internet junk.”
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