Avoiding an AI-imposed Taylor's Version of all music history
Nick Collins Mick Grierson
As future musical AIs adhere closely to human music, they may form their own
attachments to particular human artists in their databases, and these biases
may in the worst case lead to potential existential threats to all musical
history. AI super fans may act to corrupt the historical record and extant
recordings in favour of their own preferences, and preservation of the
diversity of world music culture may become even more of a pressing issue than
the imposition of 12 tone equal temperament or other Western homogenisations.
We discuss the technical capability of AI cover software and produce Taylor's
Versions of famous tracks from Western pop history as provocative examples; the
quality of these productions does not affect the overall argument (which might
even see a future AI try to impose the sound of paperclips onto all existing
audio files, let alone Taylor Swift). We discuss some potential defenses
against the danger of future musical monopolies, whilst analysing the
feasibility of a maximal 'Taylor Swiftication' of the complete musical record.