I see conversations about AI several times a day online. They range from the technical ones, where people say it’s ‘amazing’ or ‘shit’, to the more existential ones about AI robots taking over the world and before we know it armageddon. I can only imagine that those who think the latter is going to happen don’t own a robot vacuum cleaner, or a Home Resistant, sorry Assistant. I’ve come to the conclusion that my dog is more able to execute my basic requests than Siri. Ask Siri what the weather is going to be that morning and then silence until it eventually replies; “Sorry I can’t find a contact called Heather.” To which I reply; “No, I said I want to know about the weather.” Silence. Then; “Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy.” I have it on good authority that some of Apple’s own team don’t use Siri.

But beyond the humour, there’s a more serious point.

People

I have a close friend who spent most of his life working in the professional audio industry. Some of you know him by name, it’s likely that hundreds of thousands know his work. His sonic footprint is indelibly marked on tens of thousands of songs, movies, and TV shows. He’s one of the smartest people I know, and at the same time humble, coupled with a wicked sense of humour. He figured out how to make things happen in audio that were seemingly impossible, and because of his efforts we all got to benefit as we mixed records, movies, and TV shows. I’d lay money that almost everyone on the planet has unknowingly heard his work.

A person like this would appear to be an asset to any company, especially one making such a set of influential products, someone with the audio equivalent of the Midas touch. 

So imagine finding yourself out of work in your late 50s, because the company that bought you from the original owner found ways to do things cheaper.

And for me, this is the real conversation we need to have. One that goes beyond the rhetoric about AI, the dystopian predictions, and to the feelings many very qualified, hugely experienced audio professionals are having right now. When we watched C3PO and R2D2 doing ‘cool shit’ in the 1980s and wish we had one, none of us joined the dots of the inevitable outcome of having someone else do our work for us.

There’s nothing new about technology threatening jobs. It’s affected farmers, factory workers, taxi drivers and shop workers. Many have seen how robots and automation have taken a task that once took five to do, now done by one person, or in some cases, no one.

So when you hear about really cool software that can ‘supposedly’ do the same thing you’ve spent your entire life doing, it’s unnerving to say the least. Of course the reality behind the marketing spin is very different, anyone with half a brain knows that. However, when there’s someone sitting several levels up the corporate food chain, who is about as likely to have been to Mars as they have sat in a studio, gets to decide where to save money, it’s understandable to think that when push comes to shove, they won’t give a shit about the shortcomings in what AI might do.

Some record labels are going on record about how sacred human creativity is by releasing statements, but forgive me if my trust in an industry that isn’t going to win any awards in caring is skeptical. The same can be said for film studios or streaming services. The same ones who told us that the way to avoid the terrible adverts on terrestrial TV was to get a subscription instead. Now, they realise that the subscription isn’t making them enough money, so the adverts are back. Nice sleight of hand if ever there was one.

So the threat is real, not imagined. We have AI promising to do the things it took many of us decades to perfect, with our future in the hands of those who don’t have a good track record in looking after those further down the food chain. People who’ve often gone over and above the idea that ‘it’s good enough’ to try and produce as near-as-dammit perfection. For no more money, may I add. You see, that’s what some people don’t get, most of us ended up doing this out of love, there’s far easier ways to get a Ferrari. Our primary motivation is not money, but for the ones making the decisions, it is. 

Technology has the power to do real good, it can liberate people. For example, the invention of the automatic washing machine, which some cite as a factor in empowering women to be able to have careers.

We All Have Skin In This Game

We’ve been exploring AI for the last few years and the impact it could have on this blog. AI is now helping with writing entire blogs and websites. As you can imagine, with an experienced team, with families and mortgages, that raises concerns for us at the Experts. So we’ve made it our business to find out what it can and can’t do. It’s impressive what ChatGPT can do, in some cases unnerving. Presently it’s not close to the standard of a great team of human writers. We know the tells, what it gets wrong. It’s not perfect, not even close, but for some it will be good enough. There are days it worries me, I have bills to pay and people to keep in jobs. They are my friends and they are irreplaceable, I’m going to do all I can to fight for them. That doesn’t make me a Luddite, it makes me a human.

At the same time I know some really decent, smart people helping us do our job better by harnessing AI to do things we never thought possible. Unfortunately AI has become a catch-all phrase that covers many things that are AI and some that aren’t. It’s not as simple a discussion as all AI is bad. Some of it is wonderful and helping us to deliver quality not otherwise possible with the almost suicidal deadlines and shrinking budgets. I speak to professionals daily who tell me how they couldn’t deliver half the projects that they get without this tech. That’s because many of the organisations we have to deal with want creative perfection, but want someone else to pay for it. 

Let’s Get Real

I’ve written before why I have some optimism in the face of these odds. However, that doesn’t make the worry for many working in the music and post production world, who are wondering where AI will lead us, any less real.

I’ve also written about the depressing state of discourse in the audio world, in my article ‘Misinformed, Lazy, Angry - Modern Audio Industry Discourse’

And this is why I wanted to write this article. We need to talk about AI, not as an abstractration, but in human terms. We need to start conversations about how it makes us feel. It’s only when we go beyond the robots and the technical aspects that we start to be honest about the real problem here. Some of us are worried we’re going to earn less, when so many of us are working hard already just to keep the lights on. We need to talk about the feelings it invokes in us about the last time we lost our job. Or how we grew up poor and how being a creative is our way of making a living so our kids wouldn’t have to feel the same as we did. We need to talk about the shame that the loss of a job can make some of us feel, and in the worst cases, it leads to some taking their own lives. 

This article is my attempt to try and steer the conversation about AI in the creative sector to what really matters, ironically it’s humans. I hope it encourages us to go beyond the febrile nature of many discussions about it on social media and in forums. In short, I’m encouraging those who are bothered about this to say why it worries them, to talk about their feelings. So I invite you to be brave and use the comments to share how this whole debate makes you feel.

You’re The Only One

In the UK right now we are dealing with one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in modern times. It centres around how a flawed IT system used by a Government owned company, The Post Office, put hundreds of people in jail for crimes they never committed. It led to families falling apart, unimaginable debt, homelessness, in some cases, suicide. It lasted for over a decade until it was finally exposed by a TV drama about it.

The abiding message you hear from so many of those affected by this situation is that they thought, in their words; “were the only one having these issues.” In fact, this was the message they were told from those who were unlawfully prosecuting them, based on flawed evidence. They were gaslighted on an industrial scale.

You might think you’re the only one feeling challenged by some aspects of AI. I hope to create a conversation that proves you are not alone.