Jack Antonoff isn’t holding back on his thoughts on music makers who use artificial intelligence.
The Bleachers frontman and music producer shared a lengthy letter (below) on his Instagram Wednesday, saying there’s “nothing more embarrassing than considering there is a way to optimize that holy process” of music creation.
“What we do has become an ancient ritual,” he wrote. “You don’t have to write music, you don’t have to record it and you don’t have to bring out the band and play it. And yet for us, the idea of optimizing what we do is a complete miss of the entire point of what compels us in the first place. We (myself, the band and everyone I know, frankly) have never been looking for this work to become quicker or easier. We were never frustrated by the randomness and magic it takes. We do it for that exact reason — and without the process itself ::: nothingness.”
The frequent Taylor Swift collaborator added that the “bad actors” in the industry will eventually “reveal themselves through slop” that they produce.
“So to everyone who is gassed up about the new ways you can fake making art, by all means, drive right off that cliff. We’re genuinely happy to see you go,” he added. “Generations coming will be engaging in the ancient ritual of writing, recording and performing as it comes to us from God.”
“So as we embark on this strange detour where the bad actors will willingly reveal themselves through slop, and the struggling great will be further spread thin to make an honest living doing what they were put on Earth to do, we (myself, the band and frankly everyone I know) remain more dedicated than ever to reveal what comes from within. Writing music, recording and performing it — that’s it. Nothing more embarrassing than considering there is a way to optimize that holy process,” Antonoff continued, calling AI music creators “Godless whores.”
“Also interesting to me how it’s mainly the out of touch shouting about following this nightmare,” he concluded. “The new artists I know are genuinely uninterested in anything that doesn’t come from within.”
While plenty of artists have been outspoken against the technology, such as Antonoff, Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran, several others have embraced using AI in their music, including Grimes, David Guetta and Liam Gallagher.
And the AI train is only picking up steam as Suno, the music industry’s most prominent AI music generation platform, shared earlier this year that it has surpassed two million paid subscribers.
Autumn Rowe, a career songwriter with credits on Jon Batiste, Dua Lipa and Ava Max songs, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that she’s still skeptical of AI music but has begun to experiment lightly with Suno.
“I’ve got concerns with AI, I worry about younger writers who use Suno before they’ve spent the many, many hours crafting songs,” Rowe said. “But I do think AI in music will keep getting more prominent, and I think it could help writers get more leverage if they can do a lot of that production early themselves.”
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