Jeys Marabini argues that machines will never be the same or replace human beings when it comes to creating music, he highly emphasizes the importance of the existence of a human being in all the music processes. “How can a machine be better than a human being when it is a human being that created the machine and it is also a human being who feeds the machine what then becomes a product, so really there is no way a machine can surpass humans when it comes to creativity”. He further clarifies that a machine develops what has already been established by a human being. “An instrument cannot make music, but a human can do so, yes the machines make the works easier and better but a human being is a pioneer in the whole process this is why we will always be the best when compared to machines, please also note that creativity is not the same as technical skills”.
Marabini acknowledges how AI tools are used to make their lives better when doing music as they simplify some of the complicated areas, make it possible to work on a project within a short space of time but denies the intelligence of machines as clever than humans.
He appreciates the innovative technological tools that are powered by AI as positive steps for development. “Change is good, we need to continuously innovate, improve our art and be highly competitive in a fast-growing industry like ours so that we remain relevant, we understand that not all creation comes from a human being that’s why we work collaboratively with these machines to come up with highly powered projects”.
Jeys indicates that what a human being does is amazing as it is real and nothing surpasses live music no matter how much the machines are manipulated to imitate or come up with their own techniques, playing live music will always be the best where there is high human creativity that people can easily relate to compared to what the AI robots can do. He simply defines Artificial intelligence as fake intelligence in which there is nothing amazing in an intelligence that is fake because it is all about deceiving people to think in a certain way deprived from human connection, with no human feel and emotions.
“Nothing can replace my voice, it is real, not fake, it has an impact, a positive one as I am able to connect with my audience using my voice, it cannot be imitated and come anywhere close to my original voice, when I speak you can surely tell that it is me and not the machine”. This is a response that he gave when asked if it is easy to distinguish an AI created voice from the original voice since the machines have been accused of voice cloning but he states that he is unique, his art is unique and no machine can imitate his voice. “
“Being human is fun and when the human element is replaced by a machine it becomes so artificial and boring, this is why human creativity and machine creativity will forever remain two different areas.
Jeys also enlightens that in AI generated music, feelings that are prevalent when the original music creator makes music are clearly not present as this is the kind of music highly detached from emotional human feelings. He further emphasizes that the human feelings will always be key in music production and that most of the tracks they release are based on lived past and present experiences with a high human connection. He also states that no matter how much AI music is produced, emotions, passion and the storytelling components will always make up good music.
Marabini indicates a concern brought about by the use of AI tools in the music industry, “Machines affect people’s creativity in as far as music production is concerned, they no longer put an effort in what they do, this is why we have some who even produce 10 songs in one go, that is the creation of fast food music by technology enthusiasts using AI tools where right from the lyrics all is fake as these will be downloaded from Chat GPT application among other numerous AI applications that music creators nowadays use”.
Marabini reveals that the only time when one can realise that the music that was produced is fake is when it comes to live performance that he earlier indicated, he says that what one experienced in AI generated music is a high contrast of the live performance presented to the audience which most of the times it is dismal. “The level of talent nowadays is fake as people largely rely and hide behind these machines to produce music”, he adds. He indicates that there will always be a demand for live instrumentals despite the prevalence of AI technologies in the music industry and this is why we still need a guitar player like himself even if one can do anything on a computer using AI that can mimic just anything.
The use of AI technologies to create music that sounds like a particular musician poses a lot of challenges as Jeys reveals, hence his emphasis on copyright and trademark issues in relation to the protection of one’s works. He encourages musicians, whether renowned or emerging ones to make sure that their music is copyright protected so that it does not end up getting stolen and if it is stolen they will be able to place lawsuits against such offenders as it is a criminal offence to steal one’s work. He emphasizes that it is especially important nowadays to copyright protect one’s works because of the extensive use of AI tools that people can take advantage of and come up with fake music generated by machines. He mentions copyright and trademark infringements as highly affecting musicians whose works are not copyright and trademark protected and this is why AI can generate music for such artists and questions to do with ownership arise because it is not clear who owns the music. There is no clear difference between music artificially created and the one done by an original artist as one may argue that the AI generated music they released does not in any way show that it sounds like already existing music but it is the original sound created by AI machine, this is an area that needs more research.
