Jack Antonoff has aired his grievances on AI within music in a new post on social media, in which he says bad actors in the industry will reveal themselves by generating “slop”.

Antonoff has been sharing a number of letters on social media lately, and his post on AI is accompanied by several in-studio photographs of him looking well immersed in making music organically. As he points out in his letter, “we have never been looking for this work to become quicker or easier”.

• READ MORE: “No one’s better than him at that”: Bartees Strange on where Jack Antonoff excels as a producer

He writes, “What we do has become an ancient ritual. You don’t have to write music anymore, you don’t have to record it and you don’t have to bring the band out and play it. And yet for us, the idea of optimising what we do is a complete miss of the entire point of what compels us in the first place.

“We (myself, the band and everyone I know) have never been looking for this work to become quicker or easier. We were never frustrated by the randomness and magic it takes. We do it for that exact reason – and without the process itself ::: nothingness. So to everyone who is gassed up about the new ways you can fake making art, by all means drive right off that cliff. We’re genuinely happy to see you go.”

Antonoff continues, “Generations coming will be engaging in the ancient ritual of writing, recording and performing as it comes to us from God. As we embark on this strange detour where the bad actors will willingly reveal themselves through slop, and the struggling greats will be further spread thin to make an honest living doing what they were put on earth to do, we (myself, the band and frankly everyone I know) remain more dedicated than ever to reveal what comes from within.”

Interestingly, he also observes that most new artists he knows are uninterested in “anything that doesn’t come from within”, and feels it is only those who have become out of touch that are utilising AI tools. “Writing music, recording and performing it – that’s it. Nothing more embarrassing than considering there is a way to optimise that holy process. Godless whores,” he adds.

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Antonoff’s thoughts on AI arrive just as Adam Neely, a musician and YouTuber, has also shared similar beliefs on an episode of the Within Reason podcast. Neely discussed the idea of “de-skilling”, and how AI firms focus on human taste being a remaining human pillar that AI can’t replace.

“To me, that is a horrifying future… There is very little inspiration to be had in another person’s taste, whereas there’s a lot of inspiration and a lot of direction that you can gain from another person’s craft,” he said.

“The role models that I had when I grew up had amazing, beautiful musical crafts. And that was what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to develop the crafts like they had. I didn’t really care what their taste in music was. I cared what they could do. I wanted to see what they could do. I wanted greatness. I wanted greatness for myself because they were great.”

Jack Antonoff’s band Bleachers are touring, and you can find all their scheduled shows via the Bleachers official website.

The post Jack Antonoff speaks out against those using AI to make music: “To everyone who is gassed up about the new ways you can fake making art, by all means drive right off that cliff”  appeared first on MusicTech.