Music experts on whether AI-generated songs could win a Grammy
LOS ANGELES (CBS, KYMA) - Artificial intelligence (AI) is already reshaping how music is written, produced, and released, and music experts are sharing whether an AI-generated song ever take home a Grammy.
With each note, Tom Weir's Grammy-winning music studio comes to life. Add in the piano, vocals and violin, but with the rise of AI, the human-based harmony is less and less how music is made.
A study by AI platform "Landr" found that 87% of artists incorporate AI into their work.
"A lot of people are using it as a collaborator. They're working with it. It's their co-arranger, co-producer," Weir remarked.
The single "Walk My Walk" was generated entirely by AI, before topping the Country Billboard charts in October, raising questions about the future of music and the legal challenges ahead due to the way most AI trains on music without attribution or permission from the original creators.
"You're getting awfully close to that border between theft and actually enabling a new form of creativity," said Judith Finell, a musicologist at UCLA.
Finell says an AI-generated song could one day win a Grammy Award, as does Jeff Babko, a keyboardist for "Jimmy Kimmel LIVE."
"AI is a casserole of past people that have created things. I don't think it's really a fair fight," Babko expressed.
One survey found 97% of listeners can't tell the difference between human and AI-generated songs.
Grammy eligibility does allow for AI, but requires a human component, explains Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy.
"So if a human’s singing it, we'll give it to the human singing it not the AI writing it. But we're not going to give a Grammy to the AI component," Mason shared.
For Babko, there's still one note AI can't hit.
"Human connection, I think, is the X factor of music, which AI can reproduce, but I don't think it can replace," Babko explained.
The Grammy Awards air this Sunday on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Trevor Noah will serve as host.
