Introduction

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how creativity works in the music industry. Tools like AI-generated music composition technology are making creative work faster and more accessible, but they are also raising concerns about originality, job security, and ethical use. Many musicians worry that AI-generated music could reduce the demand for human composers, producers, and performers. Additionally, questions arise about ownership and credit when AI systems are trained on thousands of existing songs to produce new ones. Many of the ethical concerns occur when AI mimics the voices or styles of real artists without their permission. As artificial intelligence continues to develop, the music industry must find ways to balance technological innovation with protecting human creativity and artistic integrity.

Connection to STS

My topic, researching the effects of AI in the Music Industry, is connected to Science, Technology, and Society in many ways. AI is one of the biggest new innovations in technology. It allows for many advancements in devices that are used daily. The use of artificial intelligence in the music industry shows how science, technology, and society are connected. For example, songs that were created with AI show how advances in technology can help create music and allow artists to articulate new songs. At the same time, it raises questions about creativity and how technology should be used in the music industry. These same technological tools can be used to steal and copy music material.

The most eye opening part of this research is about creativity itself. Khalid Birdsong argues that creativity may already be declining because people are overstimulated by technology and entertainment. They have distractions that take them away from using their creativity. This idea made me consider how AI is not the only thing influencing creativity in society.  Society has advanced greatly over the past couple decades and AI has made this progress even more rapidly.

Impacts on careers

AI has a large impact on creative careers as a whole department. The statistics from the Statista article displayed that many people believe technological careers such as software development and web design will benefit the most from AI, while fields like journalism and creative writing may be harmed much more. This initially sparked my concern about AI in creative industries, like the music industry. However, the Goldman Sachs article offered a different perspective, stating that AI is likely not to be accepted from all parts of society, which will limit the damage it makes. This information helped me realize that although AI may change how work is done, it may not eliminate as many jobs as people are thinking. Francesca Tabor’s article further deepened this idea by explaining that AI generated content has already caused concern about job displacement in industries like graphic design and game design. Together, these sources helped me understand that AI does present real risks to some creative jobs, but the long term effects are still unknown.

Impacts on Music

One of the biggest creations involving AI in the music industry is the song, “Now and Then”, by The Beatles. The Beatles are an English Rock band who gained popularity in the 1960s. Their band split in 1970 and two of them have passed away (John Lennon, 1980 and George Harrison, 2001), leading to the end of their song making era. Most of their fans are in the Baby Boomer generation, being born from 1946-1964. Most individuals in this generation are not very familiar with Artificial Intelligence due to their lack of experience with it and don’t appreciate how it is changing the world technologically.

In the 1970s, John Lennon recorded vocals of the song, “Now and Then” in a private room. The tape was rediscovered years later, after he passed away, but nothing could be revived because it was very scratchy and had background noise. Then, the tape was found again around 2022 and the vocals were able to be separated from the other distracting noise using a Machine Assisted Learning (MAL) system that involves AI. This discovery led to The Beatles producing this song as their very last, in 2023.

Not only did this song change the ending of the band and how they would be seen, but it also changed the music industry as a whole and introduced many possibilities to people who had previously had a very negative stance on AI creations. The loyal love and passion that many fans have for The Beatles has allowed for MAL systems to be much more welcomed and accepted in the music world. The fact that it helped to make such an amazing discovery has pleased many artists, fans, and music listeners. It has given thousands of people another song to treasure from one of the world’s best groups.

This is one of the positive contributions that AI has on creative work. Randy Friedberg’s article on the Beatles song “Now and Then” showed how Machine Assisted Learning allowed engineers to separate John Lennon’s vocals from the damaged recording. This demonstrated that AI can help recover and enhance human creativity rather than replace it. Similarly, Anne Ploin’s research on machine learning in art explained that while AI can generate variations of images, artists are still necessary to provide meaning, context, and intention behind the work. This is what makes the work special. AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can not incorporate emotion into the work. Ploin’s argument helped me realize that creativity involves decision making and personal expression, which current AI technology cannot fully replicate. It has its limits. Therefore, this shows that when AI and humans work together, they can make the best and most special creations.

Some missing voices from AI being used in music are all of the artists whose work is stolen using AI tools. It has become very common for people to use AI resources to take published music and change it or produce it themselves. This is extremely unethical and unfair to the people who have worked extremely hard to write, construct, and produce their own songs. Music is also a very emotional and therapeutic source. Many of the individuals who were stolen from were given a voice through their music and then had it ripped from them and manipulated.

Conclusion

The use of artificial intelligence in the music industry is closely connected to the study of science, technology, and society because it shows how technological innovations influence culture, careers, and creative expression. AI tools are developed through advances in computer science and machine learning, but their effects extend far beyond technology by changing how music is produced, shared, and valued in society. Artists, listeners, and companies must decide how these tools should be used while considering issues such as creativity, job security, and ethics. Studying AI in music through a science, technology, and society perspective helps people understand that technology does not develop separately from society, but instead interacts with human values, industries, and cultural traditions.

References:

Ben-Tal, Oded, et al. “How Music AI Is Useful: Engagements with Composers, Performers and Audiences.” Leonardo (Oxford) [One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209, USA], vol. 54, no. 5, 2021, pp. 510–16, https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01959.

Kranzberg, M. (1991). Science-Technology-Society: It’s as Simple as XYZ! Theory Into Practice, 30(4), 234–241.

Roads, C. (1980). Artificial Intelligence and Music. Computer Music Journal, 4(2), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/3680079

Shields, E. (2024). The AI Doppelganger Dilemma: Cloned Voices in the Music Industry. Seattle UL Rev., 48, 761.

Shroff, L. (2024). AI & copyright: A case study of the music industry. GRACE: Global Review of AI Community Ethics, 2(1).

Statista. “Expected Impact of Generative AI in Different Creative Fields According to Creative Class Professionals in the United States as of February 2024.” Statista, Mar. 2024. Clemson University Libraries, Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.

“The convenience of AI has a silent cost – The Ticker.” University Wire, 24 Nov., 2025. ProQuest, http://libproxy.clemson.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/convenience-ai-has-silent-cost-ticker/docview/3274821984/se-2.

Yuan, S. (2020, April). Application and study of musical artificial intelligence in music education field. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1533, No. 3, p. 032033). IOP Publishing.

Images:

“The Evolution of AI in Music Production: From Algorithm to Hit Song” by Cary Reich is licensed under CC BY-NC

“John Lennon 1969 (cropped)-Colorized” is licensed under CC BY-NC

AI ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

I have used Chat GPT to condense this chapter. It also created an outline for the chapter which gave me topics to write about. For example, it showed me options of where I could put the Impacts section and what that would look like finalized.