A.R. Rahman speaks on the dangers of AI misuse in the music industry: "people misusing AI and not paying the composer..."

In the same interview, Rahman also spoke about how he is against the growing trend of remixing and reimagining songs.

Music composer A.R. Rahman shared his thoughts on the role of Artificial Intelligence in the music industry, in a recent interview. While he is receptive to the integration of AI, he emphasized that it cannot genuinely replace artists and their unique creative expressions.

In an interview with The Week, the Oscar winner said, "AI helps in the mastering process, but creating a tune still requires a human heart and philosophical mind. I believe the future will belong to real musicians going on stage with a guitar and a song. I feel that, with digitisation, we will value the flaws even more―‘Oh, it’s real, see? He is out of tune.’"

He added, "An even bigger evil is people misusing AI and not paying the composer even if they are borrowing his style. We need to bell this cat because it could lead to major ethical issues. People could lose jobs."

In the same interview, Rahman also spoke about how he is against the growing trend of remixing and reimagining songs. While this practice isn't new, having started in the late '90s within Hindi music, it has evolved recently to include remixes of tracks that are only 5 to 6 years old. Rahman appears to be quite offended by this development.

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The composer stated that, in his view, while a reimagined song may be suitable for social media use, it should not be utilized for commercial purposes. “You can’t reimagine people’s work without their permission. You could post it on Instagram, but certainly not make it mainstream," he added.

A.R. Rahman's latest projects feature the scores for the Tamil film Raayan and Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila, both of which received acclaim and boasted hit songs. He is also set to work on upcoming films Chhava and Thug Life.