Young Guru has made it abundantly clear he is against the use of artificial intelligence as it pertains to particular elements in music, and now he’s speaking out further about what he feels it will do to late rappers’ legacies like that of Biggie Smalls.
In a conversation with Okayplayer published on Tuesday (June 6), the legendary producer expounded on the thoughts he’s shared to social media in recent months about the dangers of AI.
AD LOADING...
“When I first saw the JAY-Z [AI song], not only is it not his expression, it’s dangerous because of the fact that people will accept something that is lesser just to have it,” Guru said. “People were joking about, “Hey, now I can have the JAY-Z feature that I’ve always wanted,” but you’re not going to write the way that he writes and he’s not writing the way that he wrote in ’96.”
He continued: “When you take Big’s voice and you have him saying things that he would have never said, or it’s your interpretation or some other writer’s interpretation of what you think Big would have said, this kind of violates him and his legacy. How do you think his daughter felt? How do you think CJ felt hearing their dad’s voice? How do you think Faith feels? How do you think Big’s mom feels? They’re not getting paid from any of these things that are being put out.”
AD LOADING...
“I think about those things when I hear the Timbaland thing, and the reason that I said something to Tim, number one, is because me and Tim have worked together and we have a relationship and that’s why I started in love. I was like, “Tim, I love you, but this is dangerous because of who you are. If you set the precedent that this is okay, then every other kid is going to feel like, ‘Oh, well Tim did it.'”
Regarding auto-tune, which has been around for many years and is a form of AI, Young Guru noted that while he does support its use, it’s how it’s used that adds or takes away from the actual art form.
AD LOADING...
“If I’m going to run a Fortune 500 business, I’m going to have my accountants use calculators,” he said in an analogy. “But we’re also not giving a first-grader a calculator. We want them to know how to add and subtract. If we use the tool as a supplement, that can help us, but you do need that foundation because, eventually, it will get lost.”
Last month, Guru called out Timbaland following news that the Shock Value producer plans to launch a startup that would “commercialize artificial intelligence software” with the goal of “revolutionizing how songs are made.”
AD LOADING...
Timbo believes AI voice filters will “open up an unprecedented world of creativity in music,” and hopes his startup will “usher in the new era.” He added that aside from helping emerging artists, the software could also benefit established ones, meaning a producer could use the voice of “a music legend who is no longer with us.”
Young Guru, however, is not on board, and took to Instagram Stories to call Timbaland out “@Timbaland I love you my brother. You know I do. But this ain’t it!!!” he wrote. “This is dangerous and at a basic level it’s corny!! I will be on the side of the luddites.”
After a fake Kendrick Lamar song surfaced online in February, Guru explained why he was so against it. “This has dominated my Howard group chat for a couple days. Ok I’m at the point where I can voice my concerns with our current state of AI,” he wrote on Instagram. “I have followed as many versions of what AI could do for some years now.
“I remember being at MIT and students showing me a project where they were actively feeding a computer ‘All’ the jazz records that ever existed. So that AI could analyze and create music in any style of any musician.”
AD LOADING...
He continued: “I didn’t think we would get here this fast with the voice. Of course my mind goes to the ethical and legal aspects of what can be done with programs like Tacotron 2. You add that to the power of ChatGPT and you realize we are in a very groundbreaking but dangerous moment. It’s not the tech, it’s the evil that men do with the tech.”
