Hey, everyone. A-hony I-tano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time to talk about our favorite technology in the music industry and how it relates to our favorite person in the music industry, no less, Kanye West.

Someone who I'm not exactly excited about or in a rush to talk about these days, especially in the lead-up to an album that who the hell even knows if it's going to come out, Bully. But seemingly, Kanye is in album mode once again. Not sure if we'll actually see this Bully record or if he'll move on to something else and then drop that. We don't know at this point. There are so many Kanye records on the Boulevard of Broken album Dreams. But let's say if Bully does actually see the light of day, it's highly likely at this point that the album will feature some measure of AI technology in its creation.

Or at least that's what Kanye is right now currently confirming in his creative process for this album. Apparently, in a recent episode of the The Download podcast with Justin Laboy. That's a name I have not had I think about for a minute. I'm just recalling all of the Kanye fans tearing him apart when he was putting up all of those live album release tweets and Kanye feeding him information that didn't eventually come to fruition.

But yeah, in this discussion, he is pretty much confirming that he's using AI, he likes AI, he feels like he should be an advocate for AI in music and the music industry going forward. Whether or not you are pleased with the space Kanye currently holds in spheres of music and politics and so on and so forth, it still stands that he is a very popular, very relevant figure whose decisions are most likely going to have impacts that reach far outside of him culturally.

Now, I will say, as of right now, I think there is a lot of confusion and debate when it comes to AI and music. Obviously, we have spent quite a bit of time railing against it on this channel. But I want to be clear that when we are usually discussing the negatives and the downsides of AI tech in music, it's usually in very specific cases, most especially when it comes to generative AI, coming off of platforms that are either generating the laziest, most bland musical garbage you could possibly imagine, or they're training their AI models on copyrighted material of other artist's work, and essentially through a process that features some extra steps, just doing new tech plagiarism.

Now, with that being said, there are usages of AI in the music industry today that are pretty widely accepted and aren't necessarily quite as harmful. I mean, there was that recent Beatles song that got a Grammy and used AI tech in order to isolate John Lennon's vocals so that they could essentially build some new instrumentation around them for the final version of the song that got nominated and won a Grammy.

But this usage of AI, I don't think, is what a lot of fans are up in arms about, specifically Kanye's fans, because if you go on social media, a lot of their reactions to this news have not been positive. Maybe part of the reason that this is, is that Vultures 2, the second installment in this Vultures series, that, speaking of Kanye records that have not come to pass, where's Vultures 3? Is that even going to be a thing? Are we not finishing the Vultures trilogy and we're just going to get a Bully now? Which, I mean, considering how piss poor Vultures 2 was, that wouldn't be surprising. Again, that may, in fact, be what is putting a sour taste in the mouths of Kanye fans when it comes to AI, because there were a lot of allegations being thrown around in terms of Kanye using AI to create certain aspects of that album.

Lately, there have been a lot of similar claims leveled at a myriad of different tracks. One track, specifically, that can't seem to get past it right now is that "Timeless" single from the latest Weeknd album. A lot of fans of Playboi Carti, even some of his real hardcores, are saying that that verse and his vocals or AI. I feel like a lot of the issues that we're seeing with this technology right now, a lot of the fears that fans are having, mostly center around just the lack of transparency around this technology. And because it can be applied in such a wide myriad of cases and in a bunch of different ways, when an artist says they're using AI – in what way? How? Is it to put a bit of a tinge on a vocal and switch it up somehow? Is it to mimic the sound of something else? Are you generating a piece of music or a tone or some instrumentation, a whole cloth? Are you using it to write lyrics? Again, there's just a severe lack of transparency and clarity when it comes to the application of this technology right now.

Now, When I go further into these recent statements from Kanye when it comes to him using AI on Bully, he likens his usage of AI to that of autotune, which is obviously a very popular effect applied on a lot of Kanye records.

"Now, the vocals, people are like, stay away from AI. It's a more negative reaction than autotune. I did autotune because people thought they're like, 'Man, this autotune is trash.' As an artist, I could take anything. I could sell a piece of shit for $10 million... It's in the same family, except people have a more visceral reaction."

And look, in the past, long before all of this AI discourse has been popping off, I've shown favor to artists who have used AI in their art like Holly Herndon, because I more or less think the generative stuff is okay as long as it's being used ethically and the music and the sounds and the ideas that it's being trained on are original from the artist themselves. So you're telling the AI to work out a piece of sound or a piece of music based on something you've created, or if you are going to be reaching outside of yourself, at least seek out permission from the artist in question whose music you're going to be having your AI model be trained on.

Once again, I feel like a lot of the issues and problems that we're having with the application of this technology could be fixed and alleviated with more transparency, with proper regulation, with proper credit to any artist or creators if their music happens to be incorporated into any popular or successful commercial AI models. Because truth be told, this technology is here and it's not going anywhere. I don't think that yelling at it and getting angry about it is going to turn back the hands of time at this point.

The only thing that we can do is hope for and lobby for some effective regulation of this stuff so that artists are not being blatantly ripped off and cut out of the monetary equation. Again, to be clear, I don't think fans want to hear AI used in a way where it is taking credit and taking work away from artists. I don't think they want to hear it used in a way where it's cutting corners creatively and essentially allowing you to come out with lazy half-ass garbage because the AI is essentially doing all the work for you.

If as an artist, you are going to actually engage in this tech and incorporate it into your stuff in some way, I feel like it's upon you to be as clear and as open as possible in terms of what it is and how it's being used, how it's being applied, because there is so much confusion and well poisoning around this topic right now that when you say, 'Oh, I used AI in this', that could mean fucking anything at this point.

From JPEGMafia sampling an AI-generated song that made it into one of the best tracks on his latest album, to a producer having AI generate a beat for him from scratch to somebody using AI to write lyrics in the style of Drake, and again, using AI for the sake of vocal isolation and that thing. Some of these use cases are undeniably positive when it comes to the creative process. Others are undeniably negative. Others are in more of a gray area that we as listeners and as artists are going to have to decide on a case-by-case basis.

But to bring it back to the person this video is originally about, Kanye.

"It's time for me to explain to people the power of AI music. Change his voice to my voice."

All I can hope is that his usage of AI on this forthcoming project doesn't just generate some lazy crap that further sullies his legacy as an artist. I mean, I don't know how he could further flush that down the toilet. And again, I don't quite get his position to crusade through the music industry on behalf of AI and its use.

That sort of thing leads me to believe that through his connections with guys like Elon Musk, who obviously has a lot of investment and interest in AI being successful, specifically the AI he is connected to. It makes me wonder whether or not he has a vested interest in AI doing well and getting more popular in the music world. Because it wouldn't be the first time Kanye wasn't super clear about his intentions.

But yeah, I think I'm going to leave it there for now.

Anthony Fantano. Bully. Forever.