The Value of AI in the Arts (Article)

My experience with using AI Music.

The use of AI in the arts is not intrinsically wrong. There, I said it. If you don’t like what I have to say on this subject, then you are free to close this tab and read something else. But I do ask you to hear me out.

Yes, I have used AI Art¹ for my works. It’s not a secret and I made sure that people are aware of this fact². The way I see it, it’s no different to the use of stock photos. I give the proper credit and be done with it.

So that’s it, right?

Not quite.

I do understand the issue with AI stuff. Despite my use of Midjourney and other AI image generators, I do not like AI writing programs like ChatGPT. Something about it feels wrong to me at a visceral level. Is this just occupational bias? I remember someone on Substack Notes asking if it’s just a case of writers hating AI Writing stuff and visual artists hating AI Art³. There is some truth to this.

The real issue is just as simple: we don’t like people taking shortcuts. This is the same reason why athletes don’t like dopers, and why hacking is frowned upon in competitive video gaming. No one likes cheaters. And in some ways, AI is the arts’ equivalent to performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

POV: You’re an artist seeing someone using AI Art (Source)

I came to this conclusion after playing around with Suno, an AI Music generator.

AI Music

For some time, the use of AI for audio had flown under my radar. I was more focused on the visual and literary side of the technology. But the use of Suno had illuminated me more on the use of AI than that of Midjourney or ChatGPT.

When I first used it, I did what every person did with this kind of technology. I attempted to put out some off-the-ball stuff just for fun.

Showcase

Here are some of my favorites that the robot generated. Let’s start with this one, a rock song about Crusaders in space.

Here’s the next one. This one’s a rap song about the Crusades. It’s exactly as it sounds.

The last one I want to show is my attempt to generate an anime opening theme about the Fall of Constantinople. Emphasis on the “attempt” since the dragon somehow got in there.

Judgement

It’s fashionable to bash on AI-made stuff in artistic circles but I’ll be honest, I enjoyed these songs. The robot checked all the boxes I put out, however imperfectly. I’m not saying that as an insult; I was genuinely satisfied with what I got.

If that makes me a Philistine then so be it.

Maybe there are actual musicians reading this who will say that the above songs stink worse than sewage. This brings me to my next point…

I’m not a musician, not a good one. I can sing a little, I know my away around a drum set, and I have volunteered for music-based stuff. But I’ve never been a part of any band; nor have I released any songs or albums.

Thus, it would be disingenuous of me to pass those AI-made songs as my own. That would be cheating.

But who says anything about passing off these songs as my own?

Poetry

I’m a writer, not a musician. But I’m not a songwriter. This is apparent because I needed the robot to generate the lyrics for me instead of writing my own. I thought about writing my own lyrics, but I honestly didn’t know where to start. So at some point, I grew bored of Suno and put it away for a while.

But while working on an article about Rudyard Kipling’s poem The White Man’s Burden, an idea popped to my head: what if I put in actual poetry into the song generator? After all, the saying goes that singers (especially rappers) are modern day poets.

Kipling Music

I kept generating to turn The White Man’s Burden into songs. I was actually aiming for some sort of gangster rap (because why not). But what I got turned out to be very different. It’s the nature of these AI stuff. You won’t get exactly what you want. Here’s the best I got, in my humble opinion:

There are way more where that came from. I also tried out one for Gunga Din.

For Gunga Din, the robot just could not encompass the whole poem no matter how many times I tried. It’s weird. Personally, I’m a little disappointed with it because I like the music but it cut out before the final line which is actually the point of the poem.

Anyways…

Strange as it may sound, I was able to put my thoughts together on Kipling and his poem because I listened to these songs over and over again. Perhaps there’s something to be said about this approach to learning.

If you want to see my aforementioned article, take a look below:

Analysis - 'The White Man's Burden' by Rudyard Kipling

Making Use of AI Music

If you don’t want to make use of programs like Suno, you are welcomed to do so. And I completely understand. As I have alluded earlier, artists see AI the way athletes see PEDs. So if you use AI for your works, don’t be surprised if (some) artists treat you like you’re Lance Armstrong or Barry Bonds.

I’m not saying that it’s right. I’m simply saying that this is the situation. Act accordingly. If you don’t want the heat (or maybe you are part of the heat), I completely understand, feel free to disregard everything I will say next.

…

If you’re still here, I ask you to take a look and give Suno a try⁴, especially if you’re an actual musician. If you can write actual song lyrics, I can only imagine what you can pull off with the program. At the very least, you can use it to brainstorm ideas or see how the lyrics you have written would sound.

Some may say that this is cheating, but is it really? Sure, you’re using a computer to craft your product, but so is every writer with a laptop. Where do you draw the line? You can say the writer is not using his laptop write his story for him. True. But so is the musician I described above.

As for me, I am more interested in another topic: making use of AI Music for poetry. Like most of my generation, I have difficulty getting into poetry despite my best efforts. I didn’t grow up with poetry, it might as well be Greek to me. But what is native to me is music. I listen to music all the time, and I can appreciate the wordplay that goes into a rap song. This isn’t to say that 50 Cent is on par with Kipling. Of course not. But what if we get the type of people who listen to 50 Cent to pay attention to Kipling?

I can think of a few poems that will become more accessible should it be turned to music. The works of Edgar Allan Poe, and the aforementioned Rudyard Kipling. Then there’s Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton. Or maybe even Dante’s Divine Comedy. Seriously, the only thing people know about that work is this stupid meme:

I like this meme but it’s sad that this is most people’s understanding of The Divine Comedy.

I’m not saying that the robot has the chops to make a good song out of these fine works, but it can’t hurt to give it a try. After all, they’re all in the public domain last time I check.

Moving on, what about the poets here in Substack? There is a vibrant poetry community in this website. Now imagine if these poets turn their poems into songs. I’m not saying they should sell the music. But maybe they can use it to get a better understanding of their craft.

Music is not ornamented poetry, and poetry is not ornamented prose. Poetry is fallen music, and prose is fallen poetry. Prose is not the original language; it is poetry made practical. Even poetry is not the original language; it is music made speakable, it is the words of music separated from their music. In the beginning was music.

-Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien

Conclusion

AI is here to stay. That’s just the way it is. Artists’ dislike of the technology is understandable. For better or worse, it levels the playing field. Now people with no artistic chops can hang with those who trained their whole lives for it. It’s the artistic equivalent of the gun, and it’s just as “dishonorable”.

You don’t like it? Okay, fine. What are you going to do about it?

Ted Gioia

, for one, has an answer. I suggest you give his article a read.

How the Music Business Can Tame the Dangerous AI Dragon

In his article, Gioia was talking about the music industry. He rightly pointed out that AI technology is not going away any time soon. But he said that the music industry should take steps to prioritize the musicians over tech companies. Human artistry, Gioia said, should be celebrated.

I can’t agree more. One way human artistry can be celebrated is to allow the artist to make use of AI as he sees fit. There is this prevailing assumption that AI and artists are necessarily opposed to one another. I reject that. There is no reason to believe that legitimate artists can’t benefit from AI technology. I certainly have. And I’m not even talking about using AI to generate a cover image for a book.

Maybe we can be more sophisticated than that.

Maybe we can use AI to lift art to a higher level.

Maybe.

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1. A misnomer, but whatever. I’ll go with the term for the sake of this article.

2. Speaking of which just for the sake of transparency, I use Midjourney to generate this post’s preview image.

3. If anyone knows the link to that particular Note, feel free to let me know in the comments.

4. Do it while it’s still free because they might do what Midjourney did and start charging for their services.