AI can be used to make music that is quick, easy, and soulless. But can we also go deeper? Can we obsess over details, control the process – experiment, play with prompts, and shape the outcome? Can AI be used as a tool, without the machine becoming the artist?
I believe yes.
Yes – I use AI. I don’t hide it. On the contrary: I’m completely open about it. AI has been used to generate music, voices, and images – but only as a tool.
I understand why traditional artists might feel that AI is the enemy. When a machine suddenly can do what you’ve spent years practicing, it may feel like an attack on your craft, your identity, maybe even your value. That feeling is real – and it is natural.
It is a big mistake to call it “artificial intelligence.” Because that suggests there exists an artificially thinking individual.
AI has no soul, no consciousness, no intentions. It is nothing more than a mathematical system of algorithms that analyze, structure patterns, and predict probabilities. It does not store works, it does not copy – it calculates and creates new combinations based on what it has learned. Without the human in front of the screen – without our words, vision, and direction – it is nothing.
I want to make it clear that I’m not here to ridicule the traditional artist. Quite the opposite. I am deeply impressed by the skill and dedication it takes to master an instrument, a voice, or a craft. But I hold the same respect for the shoemaker, the tailor, the butcher, the photographer – and all other fields where technology has entered. We have to accept that tools change, and that we must adapt and find new ways to use them. Even if it hurts our pride.
AI technology will not replace traditional artists. The ability to master an instrument will always remain – and it should. The passion to pour your innermost feelings into music will always exist. But I believe music can be created in more than one way. To hold a guitar, to sit at a piano, or to work with algorithms – all of it is an expression of human will and creativity.
Technology challenges our habits and our understanding of what art is. It makes things faster and easier – not necessarily better. But you can’t forbid something just because you feel overshadowed. Those feelings are real, and it’s okay to have them – but they cannot be the foundation for stopping an entire development.
Every new invention in the history of art has been met with fear and skepticism: oil painting, film, the synthesizer, autotune. None of them killed art. They expanded it. AI is simply the newest tool in that line. The question is not whether we can stop it – but whether we dare to use it with intention and integrity.
I use it myself. As Chimaera, I stand behind Backprop Records and its bands, where AI is part of the toolbox – but never without human will, never without direction. The music is created by me, through my choices, my words, and my vision. AI is the instrument, not the artist. I am the creator.
AI can assist, inspire, manipulate sound – but without human intention, it remains empty data. It is not the machine that drives the work forward. It is the human being who chooses, shapes, carves, and says: This is music.
By dismissing it with “It’s just AI that made it,” you remove the human from the equation. But you also remove responsibility for the creation. If no one is responsible, who will be held accountable?
AI does not cut and paste. It trains and learns compositions, scales, vocals, structures, and more. When we learn to play instruments, we mirror each other, we practice, we imitate, we let ourselves be inspired. We train on other people’s works, and from that we create our own. No art has ever arisen in a vacuum. The only difference now is that technology has systematized this process – and made it faster, easier, and more accessible. But because it has become easier, does that make it wrong?
The fact that it has become easier only means that people like me – without a traditional musical education – can also express themselves musically.
It should not be fabricated by corporations. The major labels think profit and bottom line over artistic morality. Can you imagine a future where music is only created based on what sells best? “Ghost artists” already exist on most streaming platforms, created for one reason only – so no royalties need to be paid when the music is played.
There is a difference between curating with AI and mass-producing without thought. One path requires vision, responsibility, and artistic judgment. The other dilutes art into algorithmic background noise. I reject the automated factory music where thousands of meaningless songs are spat out without a soul.
Yes – you can just press a button and take the first result. But that’s not how I work. For me – for Backprop Records – it’s about geeking out on the process: experimenting, tweaking parameters, scrapping, rebuilding, and spending hours fine-tuning the material. AI is not a shortcut to quality and good sound – it still requires will, aesthetics, and direction. As with everything else: if it’s going to be good, you have to work for it!
The music belongs to humans – to you and me – who want to create with intention and heart. It should not be the big companies dictating the sound of the future. It is about creating art that can only be born in this time – at the crossroads between human will and the machine’s power. A new kind of music, driven by vision, born of rebellion, and created to break the frame.
Backprop Records is my response to the idea that AI should be the artist. Here, AI is an instrument. I am the creator behind it. My bands and my music are manifestations of human will in interplay with technology. They are shaped by my words, my aesthetics, my direction. AI is merely the tool that enables it.
I am not naive. I know the future will be full of debate, conflict, and fear. But art has always found a way. It will this time too.
Want to collaborate, challenge, or join the rebellion?
Reach out: whatever@backproprecords.com