Producer Dallas Austin on AI artists: Music industry needs to embrace progress or be left behind
In just a few years, artificial intelligence has grown from an experimental idea to a powerful tool creating music that listeners might not even know is generated from prompts.
One artist, Xania Monet, has become the first known AI artist to debut on a Billboard radio chart, reaching No. 3 on the organization's Hot Gospel Songs and No. 20 on the Hot R&B Songs. Her music's success has led to a multi-million dollar recording deal with the label Hallwood Media.
Monet's creator, 31-year-old Mississippi native Telisha "Nikki" Jones, told "CBS Mornings'" Gayle King that she didn't consider using AI as a shortcut.
"Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person," Jones said.
The rise of these AI or AI-assisted artists has led to many strong reactions in the music industry, with some calling for restrictions while others say the business has to adapt sooner rather than later.
"A world we're going to have to understand"
Dallas Austin is a Georgia Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer best known for working with musical groups like TLC and Boyz II Men, and other artists such as Gwen Stefani and Monica. Austin believes that the presence of AI in the music industry is here to stay and that those working in the music industry should do their best to embrace it or face getting left behind.
"One of the things you gotta understand with AI artists, is that it's going to co-exist with real artists, it's not going to take them away," Austin said. "Just like everything else, this is just another Industrial Revolution. Not just AI artists, but AI music, AI film, AI actors, AI clothing, I mean, it's just a world we're going to have to understand, and it's seeped into a different environment now."
Austin believes AI won't have the ability to eliminate real artists because people desire human connection. For example, fans often follow their favorite artists on social media, and a fan meet-and-greet or concert isn't quite the same when the artist is AI.
Other artists, such as So So Def CEO Jermaine Dupri, have been outspoken about being against AI artists.
"Years ago, the industry found out that Milli Vanilli weren't really the voices on their Grammy-winning record and they were stripped of their Grammy, but now we're getting ready to accept people who can't even sing, creating songs for a fake person?" Dupri wrote on X. "How is this any different than milli Vanilli?"
A potential shakeup to the music world
How much generative AI has impacted the music industry is unclear. The most reliable figures come from music streaming service Deezer, which estimates that 18% of songs uploaded to its platform every day are purely AI-generated, though they only account for a tiny amount of total streams, hinting that few people are actually listening. Other, bigger streaming platforms like Spotify haven't released any figures on AI music.
Experts say AI's potential to let anyone come up with a hit song is poised to shake up the music industry's production pipeline. The amount is likely to increase as young people grow up with AI tools.
"Just think about what it used to cost to make a hit or make something that breaks," said Josh Antonuccio, director of Ohio University's School of Media Arts and Studies. "And that just keeps winnowing down from a major studio to a laptop to a bedroom. And now it's like a text prompt — several text prompts."
But he added that AI music is still in a "Wild West" phase because of the lack of legal clarity over copyright. He compared it to the legal battles more than two decades ago over file-sharing sites like Napster that heralded the transition from CDs to digital media and eventually paved the way for today's music streaming services.
Three major record companies, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records, have filed lawsuits against AI generation tool Suno and Udio for copyright infringement. In June, the two sides also reportedly entered negotiations that could go beyond settling the lawsuits and set rules for how artists are paid when AI is used to remix their songs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.