Nick Cave: “ChatGPT should just fuck off and leave songwriting alone”
Nick Cave has shared his thoughts on the AI-based platform, ChatGPT, saying that it should “fuck off and leave songwriting alone”.
The Bad Seeds frontman made headlines back in January after sharing his less-than-enthusiastic views on using AI platforms to write songs – stating that the process is a “grotesque mockery of what it means to be human”.
The comments were initially raised after a fan contacted Cave via his Q&A site, The Red Hand Files, and shared some lyrics generated in his style, made by the AI computer program ChatGPT. “Thanks for the song,” he wrote in his initial response. “But with all the love and respect in the world, this song is bullshit, a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”.
Now, the rock icon has once again spoken out about the AI service being used to create lyrics, and said that he wants it to “fuck off and leave songwriting alone”.
“My objection is not with A.I. in general. For better or for worse, we are inextricably immersed in A.I.,” he told The New Yorker when asked if the platform could make us value creative artwork more.
“It is more a kind of sad, disappointed feeling that there are smart people out there that actually think the artistic act is so mundane that it can be replicated by a machine. I find that insulting.
“There’s no earthly reason why we need to invent a technology that can mimic this most beautiful and mysterious creative act. Particularly writing a song. The thing about writing a good song is that it tells you something about yourself you didn’t already know. That’s the thing. You can’t mimic that.”
He continued, explaining that he considers songwriting as being motivated by both “creative and destructive” impulses, which are unable to be replicated.
“Maybe A.I. can make a song that’s indistinguishable from what I can do. Maybe even a better song. But, to me, that doesn’t matter – that’s not what art is,” he said. “AI may very well save the world, but it can’t save our souls. That’s what true art is for. That’s the difference. So, I don’t know, in my humble opinion ChatGPT should just fuck off and leave songwriting alone.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Cave also provided an update on the upcoming Bad Seeds album – confirming that he has written material but the band “haven’t gone into the actual recording of it” yet.
Last week, Cave once again triggered headlines after referring to the late poet and novelist Charles Bukowski as “the bukkake of bad poetry”.
“I just don’t like Charles Bukowski. In my opinion, Charles Bukowski is the ‘Bukkake of Bad Poetry’, just blowing his junk around,” he wrote after a fan highlighted the similarities between the two. “I don’t like him. I just don’t. Not even a bit. No, not at all.”
Nick Cave is set to embark on a solo tour later this year. Announced last Thursday (March 23), the North American tour will kick off in North Carolina on September 19, and run through 18 US cities before finishing in Los Angeles. Tickets go on sale this Friday.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
