Young Guru and Timbaland got into a heated debate over Timbo’s new AI artist and the potential of it destroying the music ecosystem.
Timbaland and Young Guru Debate AI’s Impact on Music
On Sunday (June 8), Timbaland hopped on Twitch and hosted a livestream for people who wanted to debate about his new Artificial Intelligence venture involving his new AI pop artist TaTa. Many people — both fans and critics alike — believe that Timbo’s virtual singer will prompt other music companies to substitute real artists or musicians for robots created from a computer.
Among the guests on Timbaland’s livestream was his friend and Jay-Z’s longtime engineer Young Guru. The veteran studio wizard cautioned Timbo that his AI artist could lead to the replacement of traditional singers, songwriters and producers, ultimately destroying the existing music ecosystem.
“You’re feeding the beast!” Young Guru told Timbo who listened intently to everyone’s criticisms of his new AI venture.
Guru, who has been an outspoken critic of AI and how it could affect artist’s music copyrights, compared the advancement of AI to automation, particularly in the auto industry, that contributed to job losses in Detroit. A native of the Motor City, Guru witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of car-making factories closing in his community and watching family members and others lose their jobs, which impacted their livelihoods. Guru feels the same thing will happen in the music industry.
For his part, Timbaland denies he’s stealing submitted work by unsigned artists to train his own virtual singer. “I can’t train something that I don’t own,” he explained, adding he’s using his own music for his AI artist. “I can’t do that.”
Timbaland added that his AI artist is a character he meticulously designed from scratch. The Grammy-winning hitmaker insists that his AI artist is not going to disrupt the traditional music creation process as a whole.
