Nothing More have created a bit of a stir with their decision to employ the use of AI in the new music video for their song “EXISTENTIAL DREAD“. That track comes off of their latest album “Carnal“, and seemingly features some relevant lyrical pushback in regards the the technological obsession that modern society faces.
The gold-certified alternative rockers no doubt intentionally whipped up some controversy ahead of this morning’s (August 18th) debut of that video, having issued a teaser for the clip late last week. The obvious usage of AI in the tease led to backlash on social media and some subsequent heated discourse.
The group’s vocalist Jonny Hawkins took a hands-on approach, responding directly to fans and detractors on social media. Among some of those exchanges since highlighted by Hawkins were the following.
Hawkins addressed a claim that, ‘…As Musicians, wouldn’t AI be a danger for them since AI generated MUSIC is blowing up too??’ His response read:
“AI isn’t a danger to good artists, only shitty ones. Good artists know that tools evolve and they evolve with them. I’ll take it a step further… If AI can connect with people as authentically, write as good of songs with nuance, and perform them in a way that satisfies people in a way that a real human can, then it deserves to take my job. That’s evolution. Artists are just narcissistic and think that their job is more important than a truck driver getting replaced by self driving vehicles. Everyone remember the old saying “Learn to code”?”
Replying to an individual that stated, ‘Everyone being upset about the AI is restoring my faith in the arts. Nobody wants to view or listen to something that was created by a machine, the entire point of art is to express our humanity,’ Hawkins countered with:
“this logic is flawed. There is a huge difference between *letting* a machine create something and *using* a machine to create something. Nine Inch Nails is a perfect example of a prolific artist who used machines to sculpt their sound. It’s all about how you use the tool that determines art, not which tools you are using.”
In another post, Hawkins replied to concerns over AI causing a job crisis for creatives and more, revealing that a director was employed for this latest video. He explained:
“I literally worked with the artist directly. Lmao. I had concepts that I shared with him and we bounced creative ideas back and forth on multiple calls. Then he story-boarded, generated and edited multiple versions together… like we do with almost every project we take on. Different visions require different tools. Sometimes we want it to be organic, and sometimes we want it to be otherworldly. This one was the latter. The vision dictates the medium and tools that we use. Y’all just have some half baked idea about how you classify AI”
