Nick Cave on the ‘frightening’ impact of AI in music

Nick Cave has reflected on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within music, decrying it as “unbelievably disturbing”.

READ MORE: AI’ll stand by you – how do our favourite musicians feel about artificial intelligence? 

Speaking to The Australian, Cave voiced his fear that AI will have a “humiliating effect” on the creative industries.

“Its intent is to completely sidestep the sort of inconvenience of the artistic struggle, going straight to the commodity, which reflects on us, what we are, as human beings, which is just things that consume stuff,” said Cave. “We don’t make things anymore. We just consume stuff. It’s frightening.”

He went on: “I’m an enormously optimistic person about the world in general, but I think the demoralising effect or the humiliating effect that AI will have on us as a species, it will stop us caring about something like the artistic struggle that we will just accept what is fed to us through these things.”

The Bad Seeds frontman went on to take aim at the AI music generator Suno and said it was “utterly banal” with “no soul or spirit”.

Cave added he finds the concept “quite terrifying”, though conceded Suno could potentially create good songs.

“I find it all unbelievably disturbing. I’m not worried about my own job or something like that about being replaced or something. Just what it’s saying about us as human beings,” he added.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ latest album, Wild God, lands on August 30.