Sting warns against AI songs as he wins prestigious music prize
Sting says musicians face "a battle" to defend their work against the rise of songs written by artificial intelligence.
"The building blocks of music belong to us, to human beings," he told the BBC.
In addition, Sting stated that “That's going to be a battle we all have to fight in the next couple of years: Defending our human capital against AI."
A number of recent “cloned” songs have used AI-generated vocals, notably DJ David Guetta’s track with a fake Eminem and a fake Drake and The Weekend duet, which was removed from streaming services because of a complaint by Universal Music Group (UMG).
UMG, which releases Sting’s music, has launched the "Human Artistry Campaign" to protect the copyright of works generated by human creativity. The campaign accuses some AI companies of violating copyright rules as they train their software on commercially-released music.
"It's similar to the way I watch a movie with CGI. It doesn't impress me at all," Sting said.
"I get immediately bored when I see a computer-generated image. I imagine I will feel the same way about AI making music.
"Maybe for electronic dance music, it works. But for songs, you know, expressing emotions, I don't think I will be moved by it."
Whether AI-written music can be copyrighted is still under debate. Under English copyright law, for example, works generated by AI, can theoretically be protected.
However, the US Copyright Office recently ruled that AI art, including music, can't be copyrighted as it is "not the product of human authorship".
Not everyone is against the technology. Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant recently suggested AI could help musicians overcome writers' block.
"There's a song that we wrote a chorus for in 2003 and we never finished because I couldn't think of anything for the verses," he told the Radio Times.
The musician was speaking ahead of the UK's prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting awards on Thursday, where he will be given the organisation's highest honour.
Only 23 other people have become an Ivor Academy Fellow with British legends Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Elton John and Annie Lennox among the other honourees.
The North East-born musician began his career as a member of The Police, before breaking away as a solo artist in 1984.
Across his career, the musician has sold more than 100 million albums, and charted global hits like Message In A Bottle, Every Breath You Take, Fields Of Gold, Englishman In New York and Shape Of My Heart.
Sting sold his entire back catalogue to UMG last year for a reported nine-figure sum, following in the footsteps of artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Shakira and Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.
