Some things always stay the same. In the 16th century, one of the most popular entertainment games in the world was created: bingo. Over the last five centuries, bingo has survived a lot, including the creation of thousands of other casino games, the move from traditional venues to online platforms, and the implication of AI-based algorithms to generate numbers.
Despite all this, bingo is fundamentally the same game as it was back in 1530. That’s why the online bingo community, when it is presented with ideas of how AI may be further implemented in the game, doesn’t push against it.
The same cannot be said when it comes to other forms of entertainment. While games like bingo have proved to be unchangeable, music, as an entertainment form, could be a lot more fragile.
When YouTube was created back in 2006, it pulled traditional forms of music into an online infrastructure, giving more creators the space and freedom to perform and build their audience. The music scene itself didn’t fundamentally change, because the technology impacting it only contributed to its scope. AI, however, has the ability to make far more deep-rooted changes.
YouTube’s AI-Backed ‘Dream Track’
Earlier in November, it was announced that YouTube would be launching a new tool known as ‘Dream Track’. This is a collaboration with well-known artists, including Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, Papoose, Sia, T-Pain, and Troye Sivan.
With this tech, users can provide an AI platform with text-based directions, and the AI can then auto-generate tracks in the voice – and musical style – of the participating artist. For instance, if a user asks the AI to create a track where Charli XCX sings about shoes, then a track where Charli XCX sings about shoes will suddenly exist. The tracks themselves can last up to 30 seconds, and they will be limited to YouTube Shorts – the platform’s equivalent to its biggest rival, TikTok.
The Impact On Music
There’s a lot of concern revolving around AI at the moment, but as mentioned before, AI is not going to change everything. Whether it’s arcade games like bingo or critical thinking jobs like journalism, AI can only go so far. But with music, it can go very far. Earlier this year, Ed Sheeran was on trial for plagiarising Marvin Gaye’s track ‘Let’s Get It On’. He explained in the trial that nearly every song starts with the same four chords, which makes it increasingly difficult to write anything completely original – or at least, without traces of any track that has come before it.
The jury agreed, and at the time, it was a win for musicians everywhere. But the same ‘four chord’ fact could now be the creator’s downfall. As AI gets better and better, it will soon be able to generate new tracks with as much precision as any other artist, and the spark of this is already happening with platforms like ‘Dream Track’.
The implications for musicians and creators are certainly worrying. While AI has the ability to create a lot of jobs, it has the same ability to strip them away. While many have made a living thanks to YouTube, the same artists could lose that living due to the same platform. Because, despite the fact that ‘Dream Track’ may seem like a cool, niche idea right now, it won’t be long until users can ask AI to formulate a one-minute track, then a two-minute track, then a full track, made to impersonate any artist of their choice. YouTube, as a platform, is passively eradicating the futures of people who made the platform so popular in the first place.
AI threatens to change how music is made and consumed, but music should always be a human creation, with human emotions and human meaning. If YouTube wants to keep creators on-side, it will need to realise this sooner rather than later.