TRANSCRIPT
A sample of the song 'Beautiful the World', that won the 2020 Eurovision Artificial Intelligence song contest for Australia.
Producer Justin Shave is part of tech-focused music production house Uncanny Valley which entered the A-I Song competition in 2020 using eight people from vocalists to musicians and music producers.
Justin talks about some of the processes they went through to create their award-winning piece, using the new technologies.
"(We) actually recorded a whole bunch of different sounds from the Opera House. (We) went to the machine room and recorded the sound of what the... (Organ heard in background) recorded the grand organ. We ran all those sounds through AI generative processes to, in some cases, turn them into more musical sounds."
But it's the dark side of A-I that's striking the wrong chord with artists.
The Australasian Performing Rights Association has released a report that shows 82 per cent of its members are concerned A-I use in the industry would put them out of work.
The A-P-R-A is made up of over 4,000 artists, technicians and other music workers.
Dean Ormston is the C-E-O of the A-P-R-A.
"All of the data that is ingested into AI platforms, that's the critical ingredient in training AI platforms and at this point nobody's asked for consent, there's absolutely no transparency around that data and certainly no one's been paid."
The report goes on to say that over 40 per cent of musicians use A-I in their work.
However, with no legal framework in place, what is currently a collaborative process could soon turn into an industry dominated by A-I.
Renowned singer-songwriter Jenny Morris is concerned about the explosive trend of the new technologies.
"We're dealing with an industry that has just caught on like wildfire, in fact there's a Chinese company who produces nothing but AI music. So, that's the tip of the iceberg in that respect I think. We need government to come on board and understand the relevance of our intellectual property. And understand the necessity to make these transactions transparent, because actually, they're not transactions because nobody's getting paid for the data that's used."
The A-P-R-A has already begun discussions with the federal government to ensure that doesn't happen.
With the right legislation in place, Justin Shave hopes the sweet spot can be struck where A-I is simply another cog in the music-making machine.
"I think that's the way to move forward with AI, instead of, you know... What are the creative ways to work with AI. Being human you want to be creative. Use the meta creation tool like AI to create something that's bigger than what you can come up with."
Currently, the European Union is the only legislator passing strict A-I laws.
In the U-S, the impact of A-I in the arts industry is still being felt, with video game actors striking against developers for the protection of their rights.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing the actors, is calling on video game companies to sign what's known as the Interactive Media Agreement.
The deal ensures the likenesses or voices of the actors will not be used or redistributed through the use of A-I without their consent.
SAG-AFTRA member Sean Astin says the video game industry's workers deserve to be protected.
"We know we're a huge union. 160,000 members. But some people might not realise that that means we work a lot of contracts. And every single member of every single contract deserves the same protections, particularly when it comes to interactive. So that's why we're out here again. We do not want to be out here. But we will stay out here until they achieve what is sustainable, fair, right, good and what the employers know they should be doing."
Last year, the total global market for generative A-I was valued at around 5.4 billion dollars.
