Artificial Intelligence is taking over many professional areas and creating discussions about ethical conflicts on social media. Recently, some events have made people wonder “how far will AI go to replace us?”, just like what happened in the controversial case of Studio Ghibli, where AI generates, from a simple photo, an image in the style of the Japanese animation.
A similar new question has arisen with the increasing use of these new technologies in musical productions, as in the case of the new album by the American rapper, Kanye West, BULLY. The artist’s latest release is in a short-length format and has generated several controversies on the internet. In addition to addressing problematic issues and questionable opinions, Kanye overfilled his songs with Artificial Intelligence. Why is this so worrying?
Creativity and artistic identity
According to CNN, 18% of the tracks available on the Deezer platform are generated by technologies. These numbers, as well as the concerns of artists, continue to grow. This data shows that humans are increasingly having to deal with competition for jobs generated by AI.
It is not a fair game, as these songs rarely go through a creative process similar to that of a human musician who often takes days, weeks, months to finish just one song. It’s an unusual reality made by technologies capable of assembling entire discographies with just a few commands.
Great names in music who accept the use of these tools to create their work — even knowing all the major issues behind it — tend to lose credibility among their fans and demonstrate a lack of respect and consideration for the industry and the copyrights of other musicians.
When a career is defined only by “non-original” productions, the artist does not create their own identity in the music industry because they don’t have any striking differences. It’s difficult to stand out from their competitors, since their artistic identity is summarized in prompts.
Copyright dilemma
The AI is a database, so when creating a song, you can reuse melodies made by human artists without permission, taking advantage of information that already exists on the internet, producing “original” content from others.
According to the English newspaper, Financial Times, in March of 2025, the record company Sony Music removed around 75 thousand tracks generated by Artificial Intelligence that corrupted the copyright of its artists. The company claims that the dissemination of fake tracks could result in direct commercial damages to record labels and their artists. It appears that any use of the copyrighted music involving AI must go through official licensing, ensuring that musicians have control and compensation for the use of their creations.
Advances in technology have allowed the emergence of deepfakes, a method that uses Artificial Intelligence to easily and affordably create altered and realistic videos, photos and audios. In the music world, this is called musical deepfakes, as it produces sounds that imitate the voices and styles of artists. This digital tool is something that generates controversy and often shocks internet users.
An example of this is the celebration of Volkswagen Brazil’s 70th anniversary in 2023. The brand released a campaign video featuring old and current cars with the intention of provoking nostalgia in its consumers. However, the feeling of longing turns into strangeness and discomfort when the famous Brazilian singer Elis Regina, who died more than 40 years ago, appears singing one of her greatest hits in partnership with her daughter.
The commercial had a huge repercussion at the time and was seen as disrespectful to the legacy and copyright of artists who had already passed away. The interest of large companies in profiting from the names, images and works of these people becomes inhuman and is a violation of ethics.
The attention economy
The term “attention economy” refers to the way of managing information. In the digital environment, social media tend to capture the attention of their users with all kinds of content, often superfluous and irrelevant. However, generating views and capturing attention for longer periods on platforms creates great profit for the company.
Social media profiles around the world have been using musical deepfake techniques, and despite the innovation, many lyrics and melodies have become banal, often as if they were parodies of original works. Virilization through meme takes away the artist’s visibility and carries a risk of gaining greater repercussion than the original song, which can lead to copyright lawsuits and compensation for the use of unauthorized image.
Contents are becoming increasingly superficial and meaningless, just for the instant and momentary entertainment of the public. Furthermore, the increased use of Artificial Intelligence in everyday life has helped to simplify complex tasks in busy routines, but the popularization of its excessive use can harm and tarnish big names in the cultural industry.
The article above was edited by Isabella Simões.
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