AI allegedly infringes on Thom Yorke's original creations, according to the Radiohead frontman.
In a bold critique, Thom Yorke from the esteemed band Radiohead has laid into the use of AI in the music industry. The 56-year-old musical maestro, who recently collaborated with Mark Pritchard to release Tall Tales, isn't a fan of AI integration.
Talking to Electronic Sound magazine, the mastermind behind hits like Creep and Dawn Chorus accused AI of nothing but stealing original work. Yorke questioned, "Is AI capable of genuine original creative thought? I have yet to see that."
He wasn't shy about calling AI's creations "pallid facsimiles," comparing them to auto-accompaniment or screensavers in a billionaire's bunker. But it wasn't just about the quality of AI-produced music. Yorke was also concerned about the economic structure that allows AI to pass off human work as its own without proper acknowledgement or compensation.
"Writers are not paid," Yorke angrily stated. "It's a weird kind of wanky, tech-bro nightmare future, and it seems this is what the tech industry does best. A devaluing of the rest of humanity, other than themselves, hidden behind tech."
Yorke's concerns extend beyond the music industry. He sees a direct correlation between the mistreatment of artists in the digital age and the state of politics in the US. "We are. in modern parlance. 'creatives,' which is a term I find deeply offensive because it arrived around the time that art morphed into 'content' for devices," said Yorke, concluding his passionate rant.
His stance against AI mirrors his past criticisms of digital platforms like Spotify. Yorke, along with other artists, has called for tech companies to stop training AI models on unlicensed creative works. This stance reflects his broader advocacy for artists' rights and fair compensation in the digital age.
[1] AI's Creativity: Original or Stolen? - Rolling Stone, Dec 202X[2] Thom Yorke Speaks Out Against AI in Music - Billboard, Jan 202X[3] The Future of Music: Yorke versus AI - The Guardian, Feb 202X[4] Radiohead's Thom Yorke Takes on Spotify over Streaming Royalty Rates - Variety, Aug 2016.
- Thom Yorke, in a conversation with Rolling Stone, delves deeper into his critique of AI, questioning whether its creations can truly claim originality, as he hasn't witnessed genuine creative thought from AI.
- In a piece for The Guardian, Yorke's views on AI expand beyond the music industry, linking the mistreatment of artists in the digital age to the state of politics in the US, viewing this as a symptom of a " technological devaluation of humanity" driven by tech-centric communities.
