The AI Borg Has Arrived, Now What?

Last night I was scrolling through my social feeds and came across a band that was blowing up. The band was two weeks old, had put out its first album, and had already garnered over 300,000 followers (it's 400K this morning). Then I saw the caption under the album cover; the band didn't really exist. The band, the artwork, and the music had all been AI-generated.

"Okay, let's go see how bad this sounds," I scoffed and proceeded to put on the first tune.

Despite a desire to loathe it with every fiber of my being, after a minute in, I realized I was going to commit musical heresy.

I liked it; it was actually good.

I listened to the second song, then the third. All extremely palatable... nice vocals, guitar solos, melody. It was a little bit Beatles, a little bit Pink Floyd, with some country influences much akin to The Eagles. Sounds odd, but that's what I heard, and I was sucked in. Had I not known this was AI, I would have felt moved to write about them, telling all of y'all to go check them out. But knowing none of it is real, the pit of my stomach churns. Is this the future of music?

Over the last year, the tech bros have been warning us this would happen. The AI train of fear is at the forefront of whatever semblance of pop culture we have left. Being a former tech guy myself, I've always looked at AI with a skeptical curiosity. My brain had relegated AI-generated music to some shitty EDM genre. AI was a cool bit. It could help you make some stupid pictures or massage your words to make you sound better in an email. It was the superior and lazier way to Google.

However, over the last month, I'm finding the AI borg is touching my life in real ways. I'm using it at work consistently. Stuff that used to take me 4-8 hours to create I can now do in 15-30 minutes, with far better results. It's quickly becoming THE tool I go to for a variety of tasks. It's here, and this Dungeons and Dragons ride is about to go plaid.

The implications for what this does to music are mind-blowing, and for the people we love that make the music we love, it's really scary. It will start like it's doing now; some synthetic band will start gaining traction, people will start talking. AI-generated music and content will then explode, taking streams away from real people. The Spotify charts will feature all AI-generated content (it's already happening), reducing what little mailbox money our friends receive for dumping their souls into their craft, down to a trickle.

Who needs musicians when Big Music can crank out stuff for free? The shuffle button on your music app will be a prompt machine like no other. We've been told all the songs have been written at this point. I guess that theory will be put to the ultimate test.

"Hey Siri, create me a new Cross Canadian Ragweed album..."

"Alexa, I want to hear Kaitlin Butts doing death metal."

"Generate for me a concert with Willie Nelson, Pat Green, Robert Earl Keen, Randy Rogers, and Wade Bowen all on stage at Red Rocks. Make Willie Nelson 35 years old. Oh, and make Johnny Cash open for them, with Jimi Hendrix playing lead guitar on all of it."

"I want a new band, Def Leppard rock 'n' roll with Fleetwood Mac quality harmonies, because why not?"

"What would Nirvana evolved into had Kurt Cobain not died? Can you generate 5 new Nirvana songs post grunge?

I have lots of questions and virtually no answers concerning what is about to happen. Part of me is certain there will be an AI backlash, that people will continue to yearn for authenticity. It's what has kept our little scene alive. But with the ability to gen up ANYTHING at the drop of a hat, will "real" music become a novelty? I have no doubt we will still consume it, but will the post-AI generations, our grandchildren, consume it like we consume vinyl or drive-in movies? Will "pre-AI" content be the new genre for "old" music?

Well, if the borg wins and in-the-flesh musicians get replaced by the new AI Rolling Stones, I guess our musician friends can feel at ease that we will likely be unemployed and virtually standing next to them using our new Meta VR goggles. I'm pretty sure those that do litigation for copyright, trademark and likeness infringement will still have jobs.

I'm going to touch some grass and listen to our Halftime playlist now... discuss amongst yourselves.

Prompt

Setting: Evening concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Stage framed by natural red rock. Energetic crowd visible in front, illuminated by stage lights and fading dusk sky.

Far left: Willie Nelson, age ~35, with long hair in braids, wearing a bandana, casually playing guitar.

Center-left: Kaitlin Butts in her red cowgirl outfit (like on her website), holding acoustic guitar, performing confidently.

Center-right: Randy Rogers strumming a Gibson J-45 acoustic, dressed casually (denim, boots), focused mid-performance.

Far right: Jimi Hendrix in iconic flamboyant 60s attire, electric Stratocaster guitar, caught mid-lively riff.

Background: Keith Moon behind drums, energetic and slightly wild, illuminated by stage lighting.

Lighting & vibe: Dramatic stage lights beam across the crowd, red rocks glow, dusk sky, sense of historical stars merging in one legendary jam.

Please generate a photo real image of this scene:

Note that currently AI throttles the likeness of public figures, for now.