AI in Music Production: Hardwell’s Criticism and A Personal Reflection

Source: DJ Mag

Hardwell’s Skepticism About AI in Music Production

The well-known Dutch DJ and producer Hardwell recently expressed his skepticism about the use of artificial intelligence in music production. According to him, AI is always lagging behind human creativity and lacks the ability to create genuinely new ideas. In an interview with Haute Living, Hardwell stated:

“The great thing about electronic music is that it’s always pushing boundaries, and AI is always trying to catch up. AI can’t come up with anything truly ‘new’ — it’s always doing what’s already been done. I think that’s one of the most important things when it comes to dance music: being forward-thinking. AI can try to imitate this, but it’s always four steps behind.”

Limitations – A Personal Reflection

What Hardwell says is absolutely true. After experimenting with AI for a while, it’s clear that AI relies heavily on learned patterns and established structures. When you ask AI to write song lyrics, for example, it often produces texts that feel constructed from a repetitive pattern. Creativity is, at best, limited, and at worst, completely absent.

The problem becomes even clearer when people attempt to use AI to generate music. Platforms like Suno and Udio allow users to create music through AI, but it’s common for the produced music to include artifacts and other disturbing elements that are still fully audible. The situation worsens when you try to transform or manipulate the audio in different ways – you suddenly hear huge, glaring flaws in the sound. Instead of filtering out these imperfections, people mindlessly release their material on Spotify and other streaming platforms, contributing to a significant drop in quality standards.

Creativity Requires Human Involvement

As Hardwell suggests, it still takes human effort to create something unique. Even if AI can be a tool in the creative process, that’s all it is – a tool, not a replacement. You have to be extremely precise about what you want and use AI in a well-thought-out way. Yet, despite all the effort, you rarely achieve the same level of perfection as when you create music entirely on your own.

Additionally, there’s a recurring issue where AI-generated content often relies on words and phrases that seem stuck in its learned patterns. Words like ”unite” and ”ignite” constantly show up in lyrics, making them feel generic and uninspired. The AI simply doesn’t understand nuance or creativity the way a human mind does.

A very simple solution here is to write the text yourself, from scratch. No cheating. If you have problems with rhymes and such (for example, making the text work with correct rhythms), then AI can actually be used as a complement. But it should never replace the work entirely by letting someone else do it for you. After all, how can you truly claim ownership of something you never genuinely created? Relying entirely on AI will never give you the same sense of pride and authenticity as a work you’ve carefully crafted yourself. And while AI might be useful as a tool, handing over the entire creative process to it can never truly feel like artistic achievement.

AI in Music Creation – A Personal Stance

I understand the concerns that many professionals have about the development of AI, especially those worried about their works being unprotected. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that their works are being used as the basis for new creations. For me, building my own work strictly using AI-generated structures is something I would never do – it goes against my principles. My work has to remain mine, and I cannot simply copy from others.

That said, I am open to using AI tools like Suno to help create song lyrics when I’m struggling, but I feed the AI with my own previously created work. Even though AI builds its structure based on learned data, the final result is still enclosed around something I’ve already created. It’s important to maintain ownership and authenticity in the creative process – and for me, AI should serve as a complement to that, not a replacement.

A Risk for the Music Industry

It’s also worth noting that a recent study warns the music industry could lose up to 25% of its revenue to AI technology within the next four years. This highlights that the debate about AI’s impact on creativity and quality in music production is more relevant than ever.

The discussion around AI and creativity is likely to continue for a long time. But one thing remains clear: No matter how advanced AI becomes, it will always be a tool – a potentially helpful one, but never a replacement for genuine human creativity.

Other Links Related to the Above Articles:

• The Guardian – Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on the Music Industry
• DJ Mag – Music Sector Workers Could Lose 25% of Income to AI in Next Four Years
• CISAC Global Economic Study on the Risk to Human Creators Due to Generative AI
• DJ Mag – ABBA Reunite to Receive Swedish Knighthood in Stockholm
• DJ Mag – Generative AI Could Put a Substantial Amount of Musicians’ Revenue at Risk by 2028
• DJ Mag – AI Use in Music Must Be Regulated, Parliamentary Group Tells Government
• DJ Mag – YouTube Testing AI-Generated Music Remixes for Creators’ Shorts
• DJ Mag – YouTube Talks to Major Labels Over AI Music Licensing Deal
• DJ Mag – AI Use in Music Must Be Regulated, Parliamentary Group Tells Government