Barack Obama: “For elevator music, AI is going to work fine. Music like Bob Dylan or Stevie Wonder, that’s different”::Barack Obama has weighed in on AI’s impact on music creation in a new interview, saying, “For elevator music, AI is going to work fine”.
I mean Obama is not wrong, but I hope the rest of his thoughts are that it will be as good as the artists he quoted as it absolutely will one day. Unsure when as there is an uncanny valley to cross. He did say this right and it was not just a get off my front lawn comment…right?
He’s wrong in the sense that Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder are just as much cultural reflections as they are artists. Popular art and celebrity are effectively inseparable. This is why each generation often doesn’t “get” the popular art of others.
The reality is that there’s nothing stopping an AI from becoming a celebrity, and I’m a bit surprised it hasn’t happened yet. Once that happens, the art it produces will be lauded, and people who are not the direct participants in mainstream popular culture will be confused and in some cases upset or offended by it. And the wheel will continue to turn.
Very good points. Art is in the eye/ear of the beholder sort of thing and our taste is for sure influenced by our culture/generation.