Dr. Dre Defends AI Music Production While Streaming Services Battle AI-Generated Slop

Dr. Dre Says He Uses AI to Produce Songs

Dr. Dre, the pioneering rapper and seven-time Grammy-winning producer behind hit songs like Tupac's "California Love" and Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady," is very much pro using artificial intelligence tools to make music. In an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Dre and Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine spoke about artificial intelligence's recent foray into music production, with the producer characterizing those who oppose AI song generation tools as "afraid of learning new things." "I don't see it as a threat. I think the only people that see it as a threat are the people who have trouble creating," Dr. Dre said. "I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago. They were against AI, and I'm like, 'OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out.' Or synthesizers, right?" AI song generation tools have experienced a surge in popularity in the last year. In the coming weeks, both Spotify and Apple Music will begin labeling AI "artists" on their platforms as such, a move that simultaneously highlights the increasing criticism for AI-generated music that presents itself as authentic, and the growing acceptance of these tools as a legitimate way of creating songs. Spotify is even partnering with Universal Music Group to build a tool that will let users create AI-generated song covers, even going so far as to bank on Spotify users to pay to use the upcoming feature when it launches. There are many, like Dr. Dre, who view these tools as just another piece of technology to aid the greater production process, cutting down barriers like time and cost by automating some of the work that the producer themselves or perhaps a collaborator in the form of a real, paid human would have otherwise done. Others are worried about wider implications of the wholesale adoption of this technology, including the automation of jobs, the murky (and some argue illegal) use of copyrighted material, and the end products that sound like soulless, repetitive AI slop. Iovine, the music executive and Dr. Dre's partner in Beats by Dre, for his part, says he doesn't "see the downside at all." "There will be some crappy music. There's crappy music now," Iovine told the NYT. "In the studio, when gifted people have AI, they're going to make better records." Dr. Dre said he uses AI in producing "as a tool to see what it would do with what I just did." The award-winning producer also said he is definitely not alone among his peers in his stance on AI either: many producers use AI but fear to admit it. Iovine calls them "closet AI producers," and says Timbaland, the four-time Grammy-winning singer-producer behind a long list of hits like "Promiscuous" with Nelly Furtado, is also one. AI's role in the creative fields is a topic of controversy that extends far beyond just music. The generative AI boom is resulting in AI tools that also automate the work processes of writers and visual artists like videographers, photographers, models and actors. Those industries are also facing a similar split, with some creatives embracing the technology in moderation while others raise concerns about any form of acceptance. In the film industry, for example, directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Soderbergh, and actors like Reese Witherspoon have all come out in support of adopting AI into the filmmaking process. Others have not been as keen. Director Guillermo Del Toro said earlier this year that he would rather die than use generative AI, and Seth Rogen said that if you use AI to write scripts, then maybe you just should not be a writer. "The idea of a tool that makes me write less is not appealing to me, because I like writing," Rogen told Brut in May. "And if your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process, you shouldn't be a writer. Because you're not writing. Go do something else."

'I'm embracing it': Dr Dre defends AI music and compares it to synths, despite most streaming services ousting slop from their libraries

* AI claims another victim: Dr. Dre admits to using it for music production * The legendary producer doesn't detail how he uses it, though * Certain uses could run him afoul of new streaming pushes Another former musician has admitted to embracing artificial intelligence -- Dr. Dre, formerly of N.W.A, has admitted that he uses AI when he's producing music. In an interview with the New York Times the rapper, who's actually called Andre Romell Young, joined the likes of David Guetta, Timbaland and Grimes in admitting to using AI in their works. "It's a new tool for creativity," Dre said, "I'm embracing it. I can't wait to see what's going to happen with this." He also repeated a common AI-user talking point, comparing it to drum machines or synthesizers and describing how much of a backlash there was against those now-common tools when they were first introduced. In the interview, Dr. Dre didn't open up about how he actually uses AI. So it's not clear whether he uses it to artificially create entire tracks or stems, like Boy George infamously did with his We Will Dance Again, or simply to isolate elements of existing tracks, as Paul McCartney famously did to remaster a Beatles song. Given how many simple tech tools are labelled as AI, he could simply be using it to organize files. Dre runs afoul of the streaming war Streaming services are currently waging a war against the deluge of AI music which gets dumped on their platforms daily. According to Deezer, half of its uploads are AI-generated, and the issue has pushed the major platforms to lay down the law with AI slop. Deezer has been busy releasing non-AI features and unveiling AI removal filters, while Qobuz recently spoke to us about its own plans to tackle AI, and Tidal doesn't give royalties to AI music. Spotify has been much slower on the draw than its rivals, but even it recently unveiled an AI Persona tag to identify 'artists' who aren't real people. It was done best by Bandcamp, which simply and easily banned music which was "generated wholly or in substantial part by AI". Now that's how you stick up for your users. Given that he's a known entity in the music world, with a large back catalog that predates AI, it's very unlikely that Dr. Dre would fall afoul of these existing anti-AI rules. You're not going to see an AI tag on California Love, or find Straight Outta Compton has been demonetized. But the goalposts are constantly changing, as music streaming services cotton onto just how much listeners hate AI slop, and discover new ways of identifying and quashing artificial music. While Dre's ambiguous AI use won't break streaming service rules now, that could change as these services redefine what they allow. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

As the music industry reels from a slop flood, Dr. Dre wants artists to adopt AI

AI-generated music is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid. As tools make it easier than ever to churn out entire songs with minimal effort, streaming platforms and social media are being flooded with what many call "AI slop." For musicians, that has understandably raised some uncomfortable questions about where the industry is heading. Dr. Dre, however, isn't interested in running away from AI. He wants artists to embrace it. In an interview with The New York Times alongside longtime collaborator Jimmy Iovine, Dre revealed that he's already experimenting with AI while producing music. Rather than viewing the technology as something that could eventually replace musicians, the legendary producer sees it as another creative tool -- and he thinks artists worried about it may be looking at the situation the wrong way. "I don't see it as a threat," Dre said, arguing that people who struggle with creating are more likely to feel threatened by AI. Dr. Dre thinks we've been here before For Dre, the anxiety surrounding AI sounds remarkably familiar. He compared the backlash to the arrival of drum machines and synthesizers, technologies that once challenged traditional ideas about how music should be made, but didn't replace musicians. Instead, artists learned how to use them, and they eventually became an enormous part of modern music production. Dre believes AI could follow a similar path. He's already using the technology in the studio, although not to ask a chatbot to spit out his next album. Dre says he uses AI as a tool to experiment with work he has already created and see what the technology can do with it. Jimmy Iovine shares that enthusiasm. He believes talented musicians could make even better records when given access to AI, and he isn't particularly worried that the technology will also produce plenty of bad music. After all, as Iovine essentially points out, we already had bad music long before generative AI arrived. AI slop and AI creativity aren't necessarily the same thing That distinction may become increasingly important. There's a big difference between using AI to mass-produce disposable songs and putting the technology in the hands of an experienced producer who treats it as one part of a much larger creative process. Dre appears far more interested in the latter. And he apparently isn't alone. Iovine named Timbaland as another producer embracing AI and suggested plenty of musicians are experimenting with it behind closed doors. Dre agreed, saying some artists are already using the technology but don't want to admit it. None of that makes the music industry's concerns around AI disappear. But Dre argues that rejecting the technology altogether probably isn't the answer. Just as drum machines and synthesizers eventually became tools musicians could bend to their own ideas, he seems convinced AI can do the same. The slop may already be here, but Dre would rather see talented artists figure out what they can make with AI than leave the technology entirely to the machines.