Dr. Dre has defended using AI to produce music.
The rapper and record producer doesn’t see anything wrong with using the technology in the studio – insisting it is simply a “new tool for creativity” – and he’s convinced the artist who are critical of AI would have felt the same about the previous introduction of drum machines and synthesisers which are now widely used.
Dre told the New York Times: “I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago. They were against AI and I’m like: ‘OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out’. Or synthesisers, right? It’s a new tool for creativity. Some people are afraid of learning new things.
“I’m embracing it. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with this.”
He added: “Yes, I’m using it. Again, as a tool to see what it would do with what I just did.”
Dre also insisted he doesn’t see AI as a threat to creativity within the music industry, saying: “I think the only people that see it as a threat are the people who have trouble creating.
Dre’s longtime friend and business partner Jimmy Iovine also took part in the interview and he added: “I’m very pro-AI in music creation. I don’t see the downside at all. There will be some c***** music. There’s c***** music now. In the studio, when gifted people have AI, they’re going to make better records.”
The pair also suggested there are plenty of producers using the technology but they don’t actually admit to it.
Iovine said there are “a lot of closet AI producers out there” and Dre responded: “That’s a good way to put it. They’re using it, they just don’t want to admit it.”
Iovine previously declared he thinks AI is going to have a huge impact on songwriting in the future, telling Consequence of Sound: “I’m not saying it’s good or bad, but I think AI is going to be massive in songwriting on many levels.
“One, on a very basic level, if somebody is stuck and you want to experiment and get an idea. Two, is that not everyone, but too many people today are making records for TikTok.”