The birth of ChatGPT brought about a set of concerns about how large language models allow users to quickly change processes that once required human time, effort, passion, and understanding. And what’s more, the tech industry’s often stormy relationship with regulatory and ethical oversight has left many fearful of a future where artificial intelligence replaces humans in the workplace and stifles human intelligence.
While much of this alarm is well-founded, we must also consider the possibility that human intelligence will flourish in the age of AI. By 2025, we will begin to see this reflected in our collective cultural response to technology. To explore how culture and art can adapt to the age of AI, we’ll use hip-hop as an example. It is one of the most profitable music genres ever created, and has been influenced by the models of major languages. We’ve all heard AI-powered rap songs by popular artists and seen them boom, easily mistaking them for real, original music. For example, during the recent rap feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, an AI-produced song called “One Shot” was released, and it was attributed to Lamar incorrectly. By 2025 we should expect more fake AI-generated music, especially fueled by the social media circus where being too loud and provocative can capture the attention of millions.
By 2025 we believe that creative interaction with AI will begin to take three different forms.
The first can be described as “full dedication”: Don’t chase the technology, but rely on the fact that artificial intelligence can create terabytes of music in minutes, much of it as enjoyable as the music made by our favorite artists. While this strategy will involve leaving music-making to robots, the human-driven aspects of music culture will remain. For example, one human element resides in the way AI music is selected (think of successful DJs), and in the new industry of art critics and critics. This is not unlike the TikTok influencers who are currently driving the widespread popularity of art and technology. Human-led discussion about AI products can be big business, and will spawn a neo-influencer culture that compares and evaluates this progress.
The second strategy will involve the indirect adoption of artificial intelligence in art, where art becomes a healthy combination of man and machine. In the case of hip-hop, artists like 50 Cent have recently expressed their enthusiasm for AI-assisted country music renditions of hip-hop classics (often done with humor). This is the model we will continue to see: AI-assisted reimagining or remixes of classic songs. In addition, we may look at the details of this model: the growth of the war-rap scene driven by AI algorithms trained on the datasets of human artists. Or maybe even rap duos made up of two members: the rapper and their AI-trained sidekick (with hook hooks and a combination of human singers and AI).
This kind of Robo-Franken-Hip-Hop leaves a lot of room for creative collaborations and can spawn new subgenres of music. This will have business implications: Artists can be paid based on their training data, which would be an improvement over past and current hip-hop business models. Possibilities are only limited by the infinite combination of human ingenuity and collective power.
Finally, 2025 will mark the official start of a great irony: AI art will develop a new appreciation for human-made artifacts. Because the volume of AI creations will quickly surpass humans in volume, the most closely watched human remains will become increasingly important. For example, one of the messages that came out of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary is that society still lacks an appreciation for the art form. Fewer than a dozen hip-hop artists or groups have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Also, very few hip-hop founding acts are wealthy, as they created the art form at a time when it was not profitable. Similar to how the retro-tech industry has emerged celebrating the simple devices of yesterday, we will see a renewed appreciation of music from the analog era.
The rise of AI and related technologies will shed new light on the original music made before its arrival. This would be thanks to proto-hip-hop, which could translate into a profitable industry in terms of the preservation of original music, and the relative respect of artists. AI may help hip-hop’s origins, finally earning it the respect it has always deserved, and a place among high art.
Human technology and art are two institutions defined by their power to surprise us. Yes, the relationship between innovation and AI is going to get worse in the near future, but 2025 will be the turning point where we start to accept that it’s more likely. Perhaps there is a creative light at the end of the technological tunnel, where art forms of the analog age like hip-hop can thrive in a world of big language models and whatever else the age of AI will bring.
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