Opinion: AI Joy Division music would be disrespectful to Ian Curtis and Macclesfield band's legacy
On BBC1's Question Time last night, politicians debated about the ongoing leaps and bounds that have been made in artificial intelligence.
In particular, its impact on the workforce and misinformation. The impetus for this conversation was a clip of AI music from the band Oasis which has gone viral.
The segment of a robot trained to sound like Liam Gallagher was presented in a light-hearted tone, and is technology that could have great benefits for the music industry.
Songs from 70, 80, 90 years ago could be 'cleaned up' to get rid of limitations of 20th century tech, bringing these tunes to a modern audience.
But the panel were quick to point out that it could make the job of a singer-songwriter obsolete.
The musician Billy Bragg, who was on the panel, had this to say "The music industry is fundamentally about empathy, it's about feelings… and I don't think we're ever going to find a machine that can replicate that."
However, what if it is replicating an artist that is no longer alive?
YouTube has been awash with artificial intelligence trained to sing like a certain musician. It is getting so good, that can even perfect a performer's voice from a certain period.
Want to hear 1960s Paul McCartney sing God Only Knows by The Beach Boys? Now you can, and could easily be mistaken for the real thing with a crystal clear sound.
Two years ago this tech sounded like you were listening to an AM radio in a tin can on a string. So imagining what is will be like in another 24 months is both exciting, and frightening.
While these AI covers are only garnering a couple thousand views in a niche corner on the internet, this could be more than just a passing fad when you realise its potential.
One of the more popular videos in this sub-genre is a video of the late Freddie Mercury singing Yesterday by The Beatles.
Once again, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was real. The robo-Freddie sounds immaculate, and dare I say I feel a little emotional listening to it, despite it not being a real human performance.
But with this, we enter a moral grey area and the reason for me writing today. I don't think we should be creating 'new' performances from dead artists.
Artists that are no longer with us, who have no control over their legacy as it were, having these little robs-addendums to their once-dormant careers.
While it remains to be seen that the music industry will embrace the tech to bring back deceased artists, the repetitional cat-out-of-the-bag as it were has already begun.
The AI Freddie video? 48,000 views, and there are plenty more like it.
While Freddie was once believed to be quoted in his lifetime as saying "You can do whatever you want with my work, just never make me boring." It is hard to find the source for this, as the quote has been so overused amid a sea of memes, remixes and AI covers.
And it begs the question, is an AI Mercury 'his music', as-it-were?
Unlike some notable musicians, Mercury did not take his own life. Sadly passing away from AIDS in 1991.
So there's a part of me that feels slightly more comfortable than an AI Freddie cover than say an AI Kurt Cobain, which draws up even more YouTube search results for AI covers.
The Nirvana frontman took his own life in 1994. And having led a much shorter career than the Queen frontman, combined with his appeal to Gen Z, the appetite for more music from a soundalike computerised Kurt is hungrier.
Where does a listener draw the line with their own morals? Both artists are no longer with us, but I certainly feel more uncomfortable listening to a robo-Kurt, trapped infinitely on servers ad infirm, given how he ended his own life.
I too, would not feel right listening to an AI generated voice for Macclesfield's own Ian Curtis.
The Joy Division frontman had even less albums released with his band than Kurt Cobain, appearing on just two albums before ending his own life at his Barton Street home in May 1980.
And given his bandmates efforts to open the dialogue on mental health and suicide awareness over the years, it could feel disrespectful for fans to gobble up AI Ian Curtis vocals as part of this sea of never-ending AI content.
However, this currently doesn't exist yet, as no AI Joy Division songs have been uploaded to social media, but with this tech still in its early days, there will come a point where an AI Joy Division song goes viral and divides opinion.
And while comment sections on these sorts of videos share fear or optimism for the tech, there is never the regard for the artist themselves (if alive) or their family. Bringing back the voice of someone they loved, without the mourners consent, for the world to consume and do as they wish with just doesn't sit right with me.
There is even a precedent for this from the 2000s. While the Curtis estate has kept out of the public eye, Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain's widow has been fiercely protective of the use of her late husband's music and image.
Kurt Cobain's likeness was included in the 2009 videogame Guitar Hero 5, where his avatar could be placed over the voice of other singers to perform novelty hits like Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting. Some fans felt it was disrespectful, and Love pursued legal action calling it 'disgusting and vile'.
Courtney is yet to comment on the underground wave of AI Kurt Covers - which even has Kurt performing Love's own music - but if this bubbling sub-culture gets as much attention as say a multi-million selling video game, then maybe she won't remain so tightlipped.
What's more, streaming a theoretical AI Curtis or the pre-existing AI Cobain tracks do not generate any money for the artist's estate. This being another rabbit hole which was hinted at on Thursday night's question time clip, with both Labour and Conservative MPs dodging questions around China and America's already stricter IP laws when it comes to AI.
If appears it is a matter of if, and not when, that Joy Division fans must take a side on a theoretical AI song featuring a not-real Ian Curtis gaining notoriety.
Which side will you be on? Join on the conversation on our social media.
Macclesfield: You can watch the BBC Question Time excerpt which inspired this piece on this link.
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