Music can thrive in the age of AI

The birth of ChatGPT it brought a collection of anxieties about the great language patterns that allow users to quickly subvert processes that once required human time, effort, passion, and understanding. And in addition, the technology sector’s often stormy relationship with regulation and ethical oversight has left many fearing a future where artificial intelligence replaces humans at work and hinders human creativity.

While most of this alarm is well founded, we must also consider the possibility that human creativity can blossom in the age of AI. In 2025, we will begin to see this manifest in our collective cultural response to technology. To examine how culture and creativity might adapt to the age of AI, we’ll use hip-hop as an example. It is one of the most lucrative forms music never invented, and one that has already been influenced by major language patterns. We’ve all heard the AI-driven rap songs of popular artists and seen them go viral, easily mistaken for authentic, original music. For example, during the recent rap feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, an AI-generated song called “One Shot” was released, and it was incorrectly attributed to Lamar. In 2025, we should expect more AI-generated fake music, mostly fueled by the social media circus where being loud and provocative can get the instant attention of millions.

By 2025, we believe that creative engagement with AI will begin to take three different forms.

The first could be described as “complete rendering”: Do not run away from technology, but rather rely on the fact that artificial intelligence can create terabytes of music in minutes, very pleasant as the music made by our favorite artists. While this strategy will include leaving the music to the robots, the human aspects of music culture will remain. For example, a human element resides in how AI music is curated (think of successful DJs), and in a new industry of art critics and commentators. This is not unlike the influencers of TikTok who currently lead the widespread popularity of relics in art and technology. The human-led discussion of AI products can be big business, and it will generate a neo-influencer culture that compares and evaluates this progress.

A second strategy will involve an indirect embrace of artificial intelligence in art, where creativity becomes a healthy hybrid of man and machine. In the case of hip-hop, artists like 50 Cent have recently communicated their enjoyment of AI-assisted country music of hip-hop classics (often done for humor). This is a pattern we will continue to see: AI-assisted reimaginings or remixes of classic songs. In addition, we can observe the elaborations on this model: growth of a battle-rap scene guided by AI algorithms trained on the data of human artists. Or maybe even rap duos composed of two members: a rapper and his sidekick trained in AI (with refreshing hooks also from a mix of human and AI singers).

This kind of Robo-Franken-Hip-Hop leaves a lot of room for intelligent engagement and could spawn new sub-genres of music. This would also have commercial implications: Artists can be remunerated based on their training data, which could be an improvement over the hip-hop business models of the past and present. The possibilities are only as limited as the infinite combination of human ingenuity and computational power.

Finally, 2025 will mark the formal beginning of a great irony: AI art will foster a new appreciation for classical man-made relics. Because the volume of AI creations will quickly surpass humans in volume, highly regarded human relics will become more valuable. For example, one of the messages that emerged from the celebration of 50 years of hip-hop was that society still lacks a general appreciation for the art form. Fewer than a dozen hip-hop artists or groups have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Also, very few of the founding acts of hip-hop are rich, as they built the art form in an era when it was not financially lucrative. Similar to how a retro-tech industry has emerged that celebrates the simple devices of yesterday, we are seeing a renewed appreciation for music from the analog era.

The rise of AI and related technologies will shed new light on the original music that was made before its advent. This will require an appreciation for proto-hip-hop, which can translate into a lucrative industry around the preservation of original music, and an associated appreciation of artists. AI can help the origins of hip-hop, finally getting the respect it has always deserved, and a place among the high arts.

Human technology and art are two institutions that are defined by their ability to surprise us. Yes, the relationship between creativity and AI will be stormy in the immediate future, but 2025 will be an inflection point where we begin to embrace a greater possibility. Perhaps there is a creative light at the end of the technological tunnel, one where analog-era art forms like hip-hop can thrive in a land of great language patterns and anything else that l ‘age of AI provides.