Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter Refuses AI in Music Creation Process

JAKARTA - Thomas Bangalter, known as the figure behind the duo Daft Punk, firmly rejects the use of artificial intelligence or artificial intelligence (AI) in the process of making musical works.

The man who for decades has performed on stage with a helmet and a robot costume believes that AI is just a shortcut that undermines the essence and intuitive exploration of a musician's creative process.

The 51-year-old musician believes that the main focus of AI technology today is distorted only on the end result, not on the emotional experience experienced by the creator while working.

"AI is really focused on the current result. It's all about the output. Meanwhile, my creative process is not at all about the end result," Bangalter said, quoted by NME, Sunday, August 9.

Furthermore, Bangalter explained, the use of AI assistance cuts the long process that an artist should go through in finding a new and unique voice character.

For a musician, the adventure of taste and experimentation when creating a song is the most valuable phase.

"The end result is actually the whole journey to maintain the process spontaneously, intuitively, and instinctively. It is the creative process that I think is the most interesting. Why do I have to go through a moment that I love so much?" he said.

Bangalter's critical view adds to the long line of world musicians who oppose AI expansion in the music industry. Previously, Jack Antonoff strongly criticized AI-based music creators, while SZA criticized after finding that more than 200 of his works were used without permission to train AI software.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan even described the use of AI in songwriting as a form of "a deal with the devil.

"In addition, well-known musicians such as Damon Albarn, Kate Bush, and Annie Lennox, along with more than 1,000 artists, released a silent album titled "Is This What We Want?" as a collective protest.

The threat of machine dominance in the music industry is indeed becoming more real.

Streaming platform Deezer revealed that AI-generated music now accounts for more than 50 percent of its total daily uploads - the first time in history that the amount of machine-generated music has surpassed human work.

To stem the trend, services such as Spotify and TIDAL have begun taking drastic action by removing millions of songs and stopping royalty payments on tracks that are entirely generated by AI.

In the legal realm, the legality of the use of copyrighted material by AI has also begun to be taken action on.

AI music generator company Suno was recently found to have lost a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by German music licensing agency GEMA.

The court ruling requires Suno to pay compensation and requires AI companies to pay official licenses if they want to use the music catalog represented by GEMA.