Cradle Of Filth's enigmatic frontman, Dani Filth, has shared his perspective on the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry, raising serious concerns about its impact on creativity and human connection. In a recent interview with Spain's Metal Journal, Dani gave an outspoken assessment of the technology's potential and pitfalls, illustrating the gravity of its implications for art and beyond.
When asked whether he views AI as a useful innovation or a looming threat, Dani was unequivocal, calling it "dangerous." Reflecting on a chilling experience with an AI music-generation program, he recounted: "I have a friend who is a computer programmer. He writes code for computer games and all kinds of weird and wonderful things, and last January I went for a meal at his house and he showed me something then that scared the shit outta me, which was a program that was very new at the time where you could literally just type in what kind of music you wanted, what the lyrics should be about, how you want the video to look, what genre it should be — you put all these things in and five minutes later, you had a song."
The core of Dani's criticism lies in the "soulless" nature of AI-generated content. He explained: "The trouble is it's soulless because essentially it's just taking bits of information — millions — from around the web and binds them very quickly. And it learns. I know artists that are A.I. creators, and the longer they do it, the better it becomes."
Dani highlighted the disparity between the painstaking process of human artistry and the instant results offered by AI. He lamented: "You get a painter, for example, or a band that spends a year writing an album, recording it, putting all the visuals together, releasing it. These things can do it almost instantaneously. So not only is it taking away from the entertainment industry, whether it's music, art, theater, cinema, but as soon as it becomes attached to a physical robot, something that can physically do the job that his mind creates, then it's gonna affect every walk of life."
Despite acknowledging some benefits — such as aiding disabled individuals or assisting historians — Dani stressed that the downsides outweigh the positives: "Everything has benefits. There'll be disabled people who will benefit from the use of A.I. There'll be historians and things that just do work for you that make it easy. But that's not the point. The point is it's soulless. And it's gonna make the human race not only lazy… I mean, look at the way people are with music nowadays, with just having access to everything. There's no soul searching, there's no going to a record store and finding an album…"
He emphasized how AI could undermine the spiritual and emotional connection people have with art and music: "There was something very spiritual about spending the time drifting from shop to shop looking [for an album you really wanted]. Now you just press a button. And I think you lose the capacity to enjoy things as much… I do think that discovering bands and growing with bands and having them shape your parts of your life is important too."
In a final summation, Dani didn't mince words: "So no, I think A.I. is shit. I think it is a danger. And I'm not talking about Terminator robots and Skynet, although that could be a problem eventually, but I just think, for people's spiritual growth, for the replacement of hard work of artists in whatever they do, whether it's music, radio, TV, film, anything, I think it's a bit of a problem."
