Jack Antonoff has a term for people who use AI to make art: “Godless whores.” The artist described his commitment to “the ancient ritual of writing, recording, and performing as it comes to us from god,” in a letter to fans that he posted to Instagram on Wednesday, a couple of weeks before his band Bleachers releases its next album, Everyone for Ten Minutes, on May 22.
“What we do is an ancient ritual,” he wrote. “You don’t have to write music anymore. You don’t have to record it, and you don’t have to bring the band out and play. And yet for us, the idea of optimizing what we do is a complete miss of the entire point of what compels us in the first place. We (myself, the band, and everyone I know frankly) have never been looking for this work to become quicker or easier. We were never frustrated by the randomness and magic it takes.”
He encouraged anyone who likes the idea of using AI to create work to “drive right off that cliff,” adding, “We’re genuinely happy to see you go.” He also described AI users as “bad actors … [who] willingly reveal themselves through slop,” while describing artists who don’t use AI as “the struggling greats,” adding that even as the number of greats thins out, he, his band, and his friends will “remain more dedicated than ever to reveal what comes from within.”
“Writing music, recording, and performing it — that’s it,” he wrote. “[There’s] nothing more embarrassing than considering there is a way to optimize this holy process.”
In March, Rolling Stone published a report about how producers, songwriters, and artists have incorporated AI into their processes, calling it the “don’t ask, don’t tell era of AI in music.” “Interestingly, it’s young people who have the most hesitation about AI, according to some sources: In a survey of music producers by the sample library Tracklib, the youngest age group — respondents in their 20’s — had the most negative opinions of AI,” the report revealed. Antonoff echoed this opinion in his missive.
“[AI] might become smart enough one day where it’ll mimic human imperfections, but I just don’t ever see it,” Charlie Puth said in the article. “I see us humans getting smarter.”
