Berklee College of Music faces student protests over new AI songwriting course

Berklee College of Music Offers AI Course, Students Are Pissed

When AI tools were first introduced, much was made of the coming educational apocalypse, as people assumed students would just cheat their way through school. At the Berklee College of Music, it's the students who are worried that AI is ruining their education. Futurism reports that students at the prestigious music school are protesting a course focused on the use of generative AI in music making and songwriting that was introduced to the course catalogue for the upcoming semester. The course in question is an elective called "Bots and Beats: AI and the Future of Songwriting." Per the course description, the class aims to "explore how music makers can use the latest AI tools to expand their craft, and how to avoid using those same tools in a way that hinders their craft," and examine "the impact of AI on the music industry (both helpful and harmful), and on the future careers of music makers, as well as the role of musicians and creators in a society with abundant access to music creation." On its face, the premise of the course seems reasonable enough. AI is undoubtedly impacting the music industry. Earlier this year, Rolling Stone reported that AI music tools are becoming an increasingly common part of the production process, in part to generate samples that avoid licensing and rights issues. But the objection of students seems to stem primarily from the fact that the course will task them with "generating original lyrics, melodies, songs, and recordings in collaboration with AI." In an online petition, which has amassed signatures from more than 425 people, the students protesting the course argued, "AI models like ChatGPT that are being promoted by the Berklee Songwriting Department steal the art of 10's of 1000's of artists and rot the essence of the industry and have devastating consequences on the environment all to create facsimiles of real human art." They are calling on the school to disband the course entirely, and said, "There is no place for generative AI at art school." Berklee, in a statement to local Boston news station WBZ, said, "As an artist-first institution at the forefront of contemporary music and performing arts education, Berklee has a responsibility to prepare our students to navigate technologies impacting the creative industries. We will continue to do so, in keeping with our guiding principles." In a comment on the petition page, a person identifying themselves as a former Berklee student wrote, "If administration wants us to be prepared for the future, they should focus on helping connect students with jobs after college. Not teaching tools that steal from artists and make producers irrelevant." It should be noted that the AI-driven course is being taught by musician Ben Camp, according to the school's course catalogue. While it is not disclosed on Camp's professor profile page on the school's website, per their LinkedIn, they are an advisor to Suno, a generative AI music creation platform. If you'd like to revel in a little irony regarding Camp's course, he also teaches a class called "Stealing from the Masters." Seems fitting for a person who works for a company that was sued by basically every major record label for scraping their songs and was accused of committing "the biggest theft in music history.â€

Berklee College of Music Students Furious That It's Offering an AI "Songwriting" Class

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Hundreds of students at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston have signed an online petition protesting a new course on generative AI music and songwriting, marking another salvo in the continuing battle between artists and a technology they believe is stealing their hope for a livelihood. As of Tuesday, 418 people have signed the petition, which is targeting the two-credit course "Bots and Beats: AI and the Future of Songwriting" and calling for the school to stop leveraging AI on campus. The petition accuses the school of promoting OpenAI's ChatGPT, which "steal the art of [tens of thousands] of artists and rot the essence of the industry and have devastating consequences on the environment all to create facsimiles of real human art," the petition's organizers wrote. Angry comments from current and former students filled the discussion area of the petition, with many expressing disappointment that a school known for fostering the creation of popular music has gone into bed with a technology implicated in the theft of countless original songs. "Very unfortunate behavior from an esteemed creative/music college," one alumni wrote. "Do better, Berklee. You represent so many of us and so many great artist's futures, don't ruin it by damaging the craft." "As a Berklee grad, I'm appalled at the questionable use of AI in creative classes, and if I were a paying student now, I'd be angry being told to use it in place of struggling through every assignment fully myself," another wrote. According to the course's description, students would delve into how AI-aided songwriting can both help and stymie musical creativity along with discussions on the "impact of AI on the music industry (both helpful and harmful), and on the future careers of music makers." In comment to WBZ, Berklee wrote that as an "artist-first institution at the forefront of contemporary music and performing arts education, Berklee has a responsibility to prepare our students to navigate technologies impacting the creative industries. We will continue to do so, in keeping with our guiding principles." Something tells us from this lukewarm statement that Berklee will do little to allay the fears of students and alumni alike.