Gary Numan is “fascinated and horrified in equal measure” about the use of AI in music.
The 66-year-old ‘Cars’ hitmaker’s upcoming album is “devoted entirely” to artificial intelligence “and how it might impact humanity” and he predicts that the future could see AI artists appearing onstage in a similar vein to ABBA’s Voyager avatar show, but he’s hopeful that people will eventually tire of art that is not created by humans.
Asked if the music world should be scared of AI, Gary told Blitzed Magazine: “I’d say sad more than scared. The new album I’m working on now is devoted entirely to Al and how it might impact humanity. I’m fascinated and horrified in equal measure. As for its impact on music I fully expect Al to write great songs, it will paint extraordinary paintings, write amazing books, stunning poetry. There will be Al pop stars and actors who will become as popular, if not more so, than any human. We will go to shows where the stars are Al but appear on stage just the same (see Abba’s Voyager show as a precursor to that). Everything is about to change.”
Gary believes people will initially be wowed by AI in the arts, but eventually yearn for the “human experience”.
He continued: “I think for quite some time the world will be amazed and entertained by all the wonders Al will create in the arts. But, ultimately, if we survive long enough, I hope and suspect that people will slowly return to human created art.
“They will once again be looking for the human element, the human experience that created that art. They will look for something real that resonates with their own lives, not a learned Al version of it.
That may just be childishly hopeful of course. We will see.”