While some find AI technology to be exciting and a possible great tool for music, there are some who are against such technology, like Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor.
During an interview with Loudwire Nights, Taylor was asked about an AI remix that has caught a lot of people’s attention recently. This remix features instrumentation from Slipknot’s “Snuff,” but instead of Taylor’s vocals appearing, AI was used to reconstruct the vocals of the late Chester Bennington, and it’s “his voice” singing the track.
When asked about this AI remix, Taylor responds and says:
“It’s cheap shit. I don’t know what it is about human beings—they keep fucking opening Pandora’s box for God’s sake. It’s scary, dude. I thought deep fake was bad and now here comes AI and all you do is teach this thing to do this or you type this thing to do that and all of a sudden it’s just there. How much more do we want to lessen—and I mean lessen as in detract from—what we actually do as human beings?
“How much more do we want to take away from our own creativity? How much more do we want to make reality completely fucking pointless or better yet, how much do we completely want to devalue true talent, true creativity, true hard work, true persistence and heart to the point now that people are going to question whether it’s you or not. It’s so fucking ridiculous.”
Following up on this response, Taylor provides more specific thoughts regarding the AI remix of “Snuff” featuring Bennington’s vocals. Per Taylor:
“As honored as I would be to have something real like that from Chester, it’s just not right. People have really got in the habit of stepping on graves and they don’t care. That’s what bothers me the most, this true apathy for anything other than their own needs. How fucking selfish do you need to be?”
Do you agree with Corey Taylor’s points?
Do you think using AI to reconstruct the vocals of artists who have passed away is “selfish”?
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