Ronnie Romero has weighed into the argument over artificial intelligence in music, and he did it with a demonstration. On Saturday, August 8 the singer posted an A.I.-generated image of himself to social media with a caption that started from the obvious problem: it looks convincing until you look closely.
"At first glance, it looks amazing… but if you look a little closer, you'll realize that it's actually not me. Or it just doesn't seem 'right'. And I think something similar happens with music," he wrote.
Romero was careful not to line up with the anti-A.I. camp outright. "As a tool, I think A.I. is fantastic. It can be incredibly useful for developing ideas, experimenting, and exploring directions we might not have thought of otherwise. But in my opinion, it will never be exactly the same as something created by a human being."
He then described how this reaches him in practice. "Lately, when I work on collaborations, I sometimes receive vocal lines created with A.I. And I have no problem with that — sometimes the musician simply doesn't sing that well. But I always warn them that I'll probably change a few things: a melody here, an interval there, a few little adjustments. Why? Because it simply doesn't always sound natural."
The core of his objection is that a vocal line is not just information. "There are things a human voice does organically that are extremely difficult to reproduce artificially. And a voice is not just a technically well-written melody. It's also emotion, feeling, intention. Your mood, your energy, your tiredness, the way you feel in that particular moment — all of it makes a difference. The voice and soul of a human singer aren't simply data that can be reproduced on a massive scale. Every voice is different. Every singer is different. Every person is their own world."
His conclusion: "I'm not against A.I. Quite the opposite — I think it's an incredible tool, and we're only beginning to discover what it can do. But I believe there's something technology will never be able to completely replace: the human element."
The context for all this keeps growing. Last year an entirely A.I.-generated act, THE VELVET SUNDOWN, racked up viral streaming numbers on Spotify, and the A.I. track "Walk My Walk" by BREAKING RUST topped Billboard's Country Digital Sales chart. A study published in November by Deezer estimated 50,000 A.I.-generated songs were being uploaded to the platform every day — 34 percent of everything submitted. Spotify has since introduced verification badges on artist pages so listeners can tell human musicians apart from the flood.
Romero, originally from Chile and now based in Romania, made his live debut fronting Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW in June 2016. He has also recorded and toured with MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, LORDS OF BLACK, THE FERRYMEN, ELEGANT WEAPONS, SUNSTORM and VANDENBERG.
Source: blabbermouth.net