Veteran bassist Rudy Sarzo, known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, QUIET RIOT, WHITESNAKE and DIO, has defended his recent admission that he used artificial intelligence during production of his two new solo singles, "Your Heart Is The Road" and "For The Love Of Love."
Speaking with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of the Rock Interview Series, Sarzo predicted the current debate around A.I. in music will soon fade entirely. "By next year, there's not gonna be any need [for anybody] to confess [to using A.I. in the music production process]. It's gonna be taken as a given that some sort of assisted A.I. has been involved with everything," he said, arguing that even fully analog recordings inevitably pass through A.I.-assisted mixing and mastering plugins today. "So by a year from now, it's not even gonna be a topic of conversation anymore. It's like talking about MIDI. Does anybody talk about MIDI anymore? No."
Sarzo framed his embrace of A.I. as consistent with a decades-long pattern of adopting new music technology early. He recalled shifting to loop-based production software around 1995, switching his home setup from Mac to a Windows PC specifically to use Sonic Foundry's Acid software, one of the first loop-based programs on the market. That early adoption led to an unusual credit: Sonic Foundry commissioned Sarzo to build "Workingman's Bass," among the first commercial bass sample and loop collections, released roughly 31 years ago. "My background, as far as technology goes, if I see it coming, I do something about it. I embrace it, because you can't stop progress or technology in general," he said.
Sarzo's comments arrive amid a wider, often contentious conversation across the metal and hard rock world about A.I.'s role in music production, with artists split between viewing the technology as a useful tool and seeing it as a threat to craft and authenticity. Sarzo's framing — comparing today's A.I. skepticism to past resistance toward MIDI and sampling technology — positions him firmly on the side of early, practical adoption rather than resistance, betting that history will treat the current debate as a passing phase rather than a lasting battle line.