Queen co-founder Brian May has joined a list of artists who have spoken out against music made by AI technology. May recently discussed his discomfort with AI technology during a conversation with Guitar Player.
“My major concern with [AI technology] now is in the artistic area. I think by this time next year the landscape will be completely different. We won’t know which way is up,” May told the publication. “We won’t know what’s been created by AI and what’s been created by humans.”
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“Everything is going to get very blurred and very confusing, and I think we might look back on 2023 as the last year when humans really dominated the music scene,” May continued. “I really think it could be that serious, and that doesn’t fill me with joy. It makes me feel apprehensive, and I’m preparing to feel sad about this.”
May later stated that while he is aware of the positive things this technology can achieve, he finds it dangerous. “I think a lot of great stuff will come from AI, because it is going to increase the powers of humans to solve problems. But the potential for AI to cause evil is, obviously, incredibly huge – not just in music, ’cause nobody dies in music, but people can die if AI gets involved in politics and world domination for various nations,” May stated. “I think the whole thing is massively scary. It’s much more far-reaching than anybody realized – well, certainly than I realized.”
May was also asked by Guitar Player about whether he feels more of a push to create music with all this AI technology around. “I’m always doing bits and pieces. I do a lot of guesting on people’s tracks; I quite enjoy that. But it’s like the universe is a different place now, and there are echoes of us in that place. But where we actually stand as artists, I’m not sure,” May said. “We still have something to say, but methods and media are so different now. It’s kind of a struggle for us to stay on top of that, I think.”
Another musician who expressed discomfort over AI technology creating music was Ed Sheeran. “What I don’t understand about AI is, for the last 60 years, Hollywood movies have been telling you, ‘Don’t do it.’ and now everyone’s doing it,” Sheeran told Audacy. “And I’m just like, ‘Have you not seen the movies where they kill us all?’”
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