Vincent Damon Furnier, known more commonly by his stage name, Alice Cooper, is an American singer, songwriter and philanthropist. Nicknamed “The Godfather of Shock Rock”, Cooper has enjoyed a 60-year-career buoyed by his originality and penchant for the theatrics. He has released 30 albums in that span, which have combined to sell over 50 million records worldwide.
In the latest news about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, Alice Cooper made a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, where he spoke candidly about the dangers of AI as it pertains to the music industry. In the interview, Cooper accepts that the technology is advanced enough to make a competent-sounding artist, but also claims the music itself is lacking any kind of feeling or soul.
“Well, here’s the deal. I could right now create a rock star. I could create a Yungblud, a guy that’s really appealing, rock, tough, cool looking. I could create a guy named – I don’t care – Starboy or whatever, and make him look great. He doesn’t actually exist.”
Alice Cooper is currently preparing for his Devil on My Shoulder book tour, which will feature special guest hosts Arthur Brown, Claire Sturgess and Billy Sloan.
Alice Cooper elaborates his take on AI in music, and more
Elsewhere in his recent Sirius XM interview with Eddie Trunk, Alice Cooper described how AI could rapidly evolve to make records without any human involvement. While the feat is impressive, this would also theoretically create legal issues involving copyright infringements and more.
“I could tell the AI, ‘I want him to sound like Tom Petty and Freddie Mercury. And here’s what the album’s about. Write the songs.’ Okay, now you’ve got a rock star that doesn’t exist, and you’ve got an album that doesn’t exist except in this world. And what happens if it sells? Who gets the money? AI wrote the songs. That’s gonna happen. You watch that happen, because the guy that just suggested what it should be did not write the songs.”
Overall, Cooper identifies the lack of human experience as the limit to AI’s creativity, and the reason it could never outshine something created by a human being.
“If I could tell it to write a song about Eddie Trunk joining The Rolling Stones, they would write you a great song – except for one thing. The one thing it can’t do – it’s never been in love. It’s never had its heart broken. It’s never been angry. It’s never been happy. It only knows words… But it has no emotion. It has no heart, it has no feel, has no soul to it, and that’s where it dies right there.”
In other news, Alice Cooper will take the stage at Lifepark, Istanbul on Saturday, June 13, for a farewell celebration event commemorating is impact on Turkish rock music.
Edited by Rahul Singh