Should You Use AI Music for Your Indie Game or Film?
As of the writing of this article I have been seeing quite a few videos of college commencement speakers speakers getting mercilessly booed while on stage speaking about the inevitable and glorious rise of AI and its future impact on the world as we know it. The case that surprised me the most was a music executive of all people calling AI “the next industrial revolution“. This dichotomy of the older generation cheering for AI advancement and implementation while the younger generations see their livelihoods and creative avenues being swallowed up sets the stage for the question I will answer today from the point of view of an indie composer and sound designer.
Firstly, the cold hard facts. There have been multiple scandals recently with these AI music companies including lawsuits against some of the most popular AI music generation platforms, The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) sued Suno and Udio on behalf of Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner music due to “mass copyright infringement“. The basis of these grievances against these AI music generation platforms have to do with the companies training their AI models on copyrighted media without permission. Now imagine the indie devs and small creators without even a fraction of the resources of these AI generation platforms trying to defend themselves against Universal, Sony, Warner because they used AI music which stole intellectual material. Finally, you make it big and before you know it you have some of the biggest music studios in the world coming down on you mercilessly because you used AI music for a project you never expected to do as well as it did.
Besides the music labels, you also have to worry about the majority of your audience (mostly the younger generation) who hate AI with a burning passion. The “Neverness to Everness“ scandal involves the game of the same name which launched in late April of this year, earning $14 million on day one. Soon after, players discovered AI-generated assets after the developer, Hotta Studio, told creators and voice actors that there was “no AI anywhere“ in the game at all. This soon led to a major outrage in which content creators and voice actors cut their ties with the game, youtubers cancelled their sponsorship deals, and potential players boycotted the game. Eventually, the studio admitted AI was used on certain assets in the game and pledged to remove them but the damage was already done. That was just visual assets, now imagine something as meaningful and significant to a piece of digital media as its music!
In summary, the cold hard facts demonstrate that while AI may be quicker, cheaper, and easier the world is still reluctant to accept art that is not made by their fellow man. AI brings a host of unforeseen legal problems down the road without even mentioning the questionablemorality of using AI in creative work.
At the end of the day, my opinion is the following. AI should have no place in the creative process aside from workflow optimization. As a musician and sound designer, the place of AI should be a purely utilitarian one. Art has always been the refuge and comfort of our human species because human beings are the only ones who understand the human condition. This is where art comes from after all; our humanity! Be it our sufferings, our joys, our fears, our loves. And plus, why would you not do your best to support another person puts their heart and soul into what they love to do? At the end of the day, the choice is yours. But please, support your fellow artists!
