"AI in Music: The End of Originality?"

Graphic By Jenna Tibby

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries across the globe, music remains one of the transformations' fiercest fronts. 

Questions over ethics, creative ownership, and authenticity loom larger than ever, casting a shadow over an art form built on human expression and emotion. But for many artists, AI isn't the enemy, it's a powerful tool. From bedroom producers to studio professionals, AI doesn't necessarily replace the soul behind the sound. 

Instead, it raises the question: Is this the end of originality?

“I think it's innovative. I think it can be used as a tool for people that want to learn,” said Vincent Wills, a longtime audio engineer and record producer.

In many ways, AI is democratizing music production, making tools more accessible to aspiring artists. Often disguised under friendlier, more familiar names over the years, it's been an instrument to help bridge the gap between talent and expertise, providing an opportunity to experiment, learn, and produce music more easily. 

It’s a tool to help people take things like theory and “have it spelled out in a format that they can understand,” said Wills.

Wills has been around music his entire life. His father had previously worked for Warner Music Group, exposing Wills to the industry early on. By the age of seventeen, Wills had become immersed to life in the studio, mastering analog gear and working with legendary groups like Earth, Wind & Fire. 

“Time evolves,” he said. Wills witnessed the rise of technologies like MIDI firsthand, a shift that, like AI today, transformed how music was made. It was a stark contrast to his earlier years of working “without a manual,” just “turning knobs,” where being “hands on” emphasized that there “ain’t no rules. If it sounds good, it is good.”

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), arguably one of the most influential innovations in modern music technology, emerged in the early 1980s. While it's not inherently a form of artificial intelligence itself, it allowed electronic instruments, computers, and software to communicate in ways that fostered artificially intelligent music systems. 

Soon after came AutoTune in the late 90s, a textbook example of artificial intelligence hiding in plain sight. Quietly transforming soundscapes for decades, Auto Tune’s ability to drastically reshape vocals blurred the lines between human and digital perfection; once ridiculed, it gradually became a staple across the industry. 

Predating both, Illiac (Illinois Automatic Computer), considered one of the first electronically composed pieces, dates back to the 1950s. A string quartet generated digitally, it laid the foundation for later developments, including EMI's “Experiments in Musical Intelligence” in the 80s. A computer program, EMI used algorithms to analyze the works of various composers and curate music of a familiar compositional style. 

Yet, as AI becomes increasingly mainstream, debates over ethical implications, originality, and authenticity of sound continue to shake the industry. Some argue that AI’s ability to generate music, from simple tracks or vocals to complete compositions, challenges the concepts of artistic ownership that have been cultivated for centuries. 

How do we credit creativity to a machine? What happens to the value of human artistry and therefore involvement, when an algorithm can produce a track with the simple push of a button?

For many, artificially generated sound feels soulless, lacking the depth and emotion we humans ingrain in our work. It fails to portray the struggles, the heartbreaks, the joys, and triumphs that reflect the human experience. Others raise concerns over AI’s ability to mimic voices, an issue brought to light over AI generated tracks like “Heart on My Sleeve.” Using vocals similar to Drake, The Weeknd, Future, and 21 savage, it highlights a growing grey area of intellectual property, artist consent, and ownership. 

“I don’t think AI scares me as much as the lack of laws to protect us from other people using AI with malicious intent,” said Richelle Alleyne, professionally known as RX.

A Toronto based singer and songwriter, RX is best known for her work on BTS’s multi-platinum hit “My Time,” featured on the record breaking album Map of the Soul: 7.

“As the music industry evolves it’s our responsibility as creators to educate ourselves on anything that contributes to that, including AI, so that we can always be aware of how to retain ownership of what we created,” said RX. 

Still, a growing number of artists are diving headfirst into this technology, not as a crutch, but as an extension of their creative toolkit. 

From innovators like RX, shaping today’s sound, to masters of analog like Wills, technologies like AI remain just another step in the evolution of music, a new instrument for those willing to embrace its capabilities, despite controversy. 

“I think that you shouldn't feel threatened by it,” said Wills. “For the real musicians and real players, I don't think it's a threat because music comes from the heart and the soul. You've got to use it as a tool, and if you use it as a tool, it's okay, just like any other AI format.”

For Wills, and many alike, the essence of music has never been about the tools themselves, but the person using them. From reels of tapes to digital plugins, Auto Tune to machine learning, every generation of musicians has faced new technologies, redefining creativity.

Artificial intelligence may be able to replicate sounds, patterns, and styles, even replicate voices or curate songs, but it can't replicate struggle. It can't replicate life; the pain, purpose, and pleasure that come with it, the thing that builds the passion behind the performance.

In the end, perhaps the real question isn’t whether AI threatens originality, but how it can be embraced within the creative process. Just as other controversial innovations expanded the bounds of creativity, AI has the potential to do the same. 

While it can simulate, it’s the human experience, emotion, and unique perspective that give music its soul. With all tools, the value lies in how artists choose to integrate them into their process.

Just like innovations of the past met with skepticism, AI too will find its place; not as a replacement or shortcut, but as a tool to complement human artistry.