Hey everyone, Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well. AI Art strikes again!

It seems more and more every year we are just seeing this proliferation of AI-generated visual art all over the internet and social media, and it just is like creeping further and further and further into the music space, through music videos and especially through album art. The latest of which is this new album cover right here that you're seeing on your screen, which is going to represent the upcoming album from Julian Casablancas', The Voidz. Considering how much of this stuff I'm seeing on any given day, I'm not really surprised that a band of this size and of this level of exposure would hop on an album cover like this. At some point. it was bound to happen.

Unfortunately, as bad and as awful as all of this AI stuff is, I feel like there are a lot of people who unfortunately are a little jaded when it comes to this topic and don't really care about the greater implications of using an album cover like this for a record. I know there are lots of arguments against the use of AI in this context that have to do with it being low-effort and lazy. However, I think the effort and labor argument isn't necessarily a great one, and in concept, I'm not against the use of artificial intelligence in the creative process of really any kind of artistic medium.

The prime issue with the use of AI as it currently stands on the internet and in the contemporary world of art, often this AI that we're speaking of in any given instance is an interface or a program of machine learning that is being taught how to create or recreate certain styles of art by essentially ripping off and remixing and repurposing art that it has been fed or trained on. Essentially plagiarism with extra steps, for which, of course, the original artists who are being ripped off are not given any money, credit, or anything. As it stands right now, that to me, and I think to everybody, should be the prime concern with AI and its use at this very moment.

I've talked about this before, I've made this argument before, and in any other context, I probably wouldn't be making a video about this particular instance of the use of a AI art. However, it would seem The Voidz fans on Instagram are not very happy to see the band going in this direction with their album cover.

Julian Casablancas and the band have had some not-so-great responses to the negative reception, which of course gives this whole situation an extra layer of interesting and allows us the opportunity to see just how bad and shitty some of these defenses of AI art use are. Julian himself, through his own account, went on this big, massive statement laying out his point of view.

I mean, yeah, sure, that is true, but again, as it currently stands, a lot of modern AI use is just plagiarism with extra steps. It's being trained on the art of other artists and essentially using that as a basis to create something else or different when it's not really all that different. And frankly, it doesn't matter how many artists you have worked with or paid in the past, if you do a plagiarism, you do a plagiarism. All the times that you didn't do that years ago don't make up for the time in which you're doing it now.

Okay, cool, fine. That's great. But one instance of it is still not cool. In fact, like, you're kind of making the opposite argument here. Because if you've gone this far in this whole album cycle to make sure that you're consistently working with original artists doing original art, then why not go the extra mile and do that with the album cover, too?

Not that I think that the band should have to pay that much money for their cover, but surely there were countless original artists who would have done that job for much cheaper and probably would have given you a good product. We can't just sit here and act like that artist who was charging you that amount was like, you know, your, your loan option here. Sorry, guys, it's either AI or we pay $150,000.

Look, I get that you like the cover art. I mean, I don't think the COVID art looks bad either, per se, but if you know for a fact that it's just an AI-generated ripoff of something else. I feel like it's on you to essentially try to find out what it is that that cover or that image is ripping off and then just merely go out and seek that or find somebody who can originally create that kind of vibe or esthetic whatever you're going for.

What the fuck? This guy is not coherent. What is going on?

I could sort of see what Julian is saying if this were merely an argument of process. Sort of like in the way that some people will scoff at a painting or some kind of piece in a modern art museum if it's a Pollock with a bunch of paint splashed on it, or it's like this gigantic canvas with just two colors painted on it separating the entire thing. Like, I get it. As long as the art moves you and it's interesting and it works, the process shouldn't matter all that much. The best art, the art that connects to you, is the art that should win in your heart and in your mind.

It's not merely about the process, and it's not about the amount of effort going into it or not going into it. It is about the fact that in the vast majority of cases, when it comes to the use of AI, that process involves ripping off other artists' original work in such a way where they do not get paid, do not get credit, do not get anything, and that is not cool.

Again, this is not merely an argument of "Oh, it's a new thing and we just hate it because it's new and we don't understand it." No, the good, genuine discourse around AI so far has made it pretty clear what it is, how it functions. Many people who take issue with it know why they're taking issue with it. And I feel like at the end of the day, this is just like a straw man that is ignoring the substance of a lot of the comments on Instagram and are just treating those taking issue with it as luddites who just can't accept the future. They can't even conceive of what we're showing them. They can't even handle it. That's kind of bullshit.

Annoying and disappointing on the part of The Voidz and Julian Casablancas. But ultimately, when you can, do not use computer technology to rip off the work of other artists, that would be great. And I think I'm just gonna leave it there.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments about all of this, and I will see you in the next one.

Anthony Fantano, Julian Casablancas, The Voidz, AI art, drink water.