NO AI Meditation Music — Help Keep Our World Filled With Real, Genuine, Artist-Made Content

AI has been sweeping the world, and changing the Internet and content creation as we know it. There are many perspectives on AI. Some people love it, some are scared by it, some reject it, and most of us are confused by it.

The Short & Sweet of It

As a content creator and a composer of music, I will not willingly use AI in any capacity. You can count on the music that you hear on my website to be created with all of my creativity and passion for the art.

AI is not inherently bad and can be used in many amazing ways. However, in the direction we are going, it is not being used properly. It is damaging the reliability of the Internet, destroying customer service, harming the education of our children, devaluing the arts, stealing from artists, hurting the environment, and (like many things) is carefully designed to benefit the rich and take advantage of regular people.

So, let’s get into it…

Is AI Bad?

No. Are we using it poorly? Yes.

It is possible for AI to be used in so many good ways, however, it has been quickly and efficiently used in negative ways. If you look closely, companies are offering countless ways for us to cut corners and quickly do what we want to do. Many of these new features are easy to jump into, but they are usually more frustrating than helpful. Meanwhile, it makes the companies and people who run them richer. Are we, the regular people, really benefiting from it?

Here’s something to consider:

Supporters of AI and blockchain technology will often argue against push-back by saying things like, “People used to say the same thing about the Industrial Revolution. Would you say that we shouldn’t have used that technology?”

To answer that question, I would say the same thing. The technology itself was not bad, but the Industrial Revolution was horrible for the world. It damaged our planet and contributed to climate change and environmental damage, it destroyed working families, forced child labor, and was an unbelievable catalyst for the growth of toxic and unbalanced Capitalism. Furthermore, accounts from real people at the time seem to say that the general people did not benefit from these changes very much. They didn’t need mass-produced clothing on that massive scale, for example.

The Industrial Revolution, like our current obsession with AI, was not done properly, and harmed the world…but it didn’t have to be that way. The technology itself is not bad, but it was warped by greed and used in negative ways. The same is true for AI in the world currently.

AI is Bad for the Arts & Artists

Keeping art and creativity human-made is of the utmost importance. The creativity of humanity is one of the best things about our species. AI should never be a replacement for the heart and soul of our art-filled world. I don’t want to imagine a future where all of our art is automated and simply copying existing works. And to the artists who work hard at their craft, it is not fair for someone else to click a button and have AI plagiarize their work.

Why AI-Generated Art is Not Unique

At the moment, AI doesn’t really “think”. Instead, it runs an immense amount of predictive calculations and scours the Internet (of existing content) to put something “new” together. However, the new content is compiling from things that already exist. Is this moral, to copy the work of others? Should artists be scared to put their work online, for fear that AI will take their style and hard work and repurpose it? This has been on my mind a lot.

For example, I recently heard some AI music, and my first impression was that it was actually good. But, of course it was good! It sounded like every other song in that genre that I liked, because it was stealing from every other song that I liked. There was a moment in one of those AI-generated songs where for a split second, the inflection of the vocal line was exactly like Taylor Swift, but then it switched to something else. It was subtle, but I heard it. I’m sure we could break down the whole thing and find a lot of plagiarism. It’s a jumble of many different styles, but it isn’t bringing anything new to the table, and is taking from human artists. Obviously human artists take inspiration from other artists, but this is completely different.

So is this fair? I think not. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of high profile artists start to protest AI once they realize that people are using it to steal their style without any effort or real creativity. Does AI create good art? I would argue that it does not. It simply regurgitates. It doesn’t bring anything truly new to the equation (at least at the moment), preys on artists, and conditions consumers to accept mediocre work.

What AI Does to Devalue Content

Would you be comfortable paying for something that is poorly made? Would you be comfortable using content that may be stolen from other’s creations? Would you be willing to provide content to your audience that is less-than-adequate? I would not.

Take meditation for example. Most of my customers are putting their guided meditations out into the world. They usually put a lot of effort into their creations…making recordings that are meant to help people and be high-quality. Now let’s imagine that they begin to use AI for everything. Perhaps they start by adding AI music and using AI artwork for their creation. Suddenly their work is less authentic and it starts to show. Then maybe they use AI to generate their scripts. Now their work is transforming into something that they didn’t really create, and the words may end up harming people or being inaccurate. Now imagine that they take it a step further and use AI to automate the whole process. Now the voice is AI-generated, the script, the music, the artwork…everything. Now imagine that everyone does this! Imagine a world where it is difficult to find what is real and authentic!

Imagine a world where books are AI-generated. Movies are AI-generated. Everything you consume ends up being reminiscent of something you have seen before. Nothing new is brought to the table.

These AI practices may be enticing to some people because they can earn money with very little effort. This is one way how Capitalism hurting the world. Easy money is a desirable path to take. Isn’t it obvious that AI will end up diluting art and good content? It already is…and it is getting worse.

I don’t want to be part of this problem. Do you?

AI Alienates Consumers, Diminishes Authenticity, and Decreases Trust

I hear it all the time.

“Can I just talk to a real person?”

“I hate this bot stuff.”

“The AI content is creepy.”

“These features are so annoying.”

“This is making things more inconvenient.”

“Does anyone actually want or enjoy this?”

It is so transparent and inauthentic, isn’t it? We all know when a website or service is using AI to feed us a load of garbage or manipulate us. Do these companies really think that we like it?

Customer service interactions are increasingly unhelpful and frustrating for customers. Usually people have to jump through hoops to manage an unhelpful AI agent. Oftentimes people will waste an hour on an AI agent until they are finally transferred to a human one. By the time customers end up talking to a human, they are already very frustrated and tapped out, which makes real human interactions way more toxic and fraught than they need to be. I can’t imagine being a phone customer service representative right now, and having to manage the anger of every person who had to fight their way through AI agents to get to talk to them.

The other day I saw a service trying to up-charge me, offering temporary “help from a real human”. They gave me only 90 days to have real human interaction before it was no longer available.

I also see medical companies offering AI medical advice. Would anyone really trust that? Doctors are always telling patients not to do their own medical research online. Are we now going to trust AI to do that research for us…pulling from the same websites that we are discouraged by our doctors from trusting?

Does this feel authentic and trustworthy? Do we really like this? I don’t think many people do.

AI is Bad for Education and Kids

I heard some conversations from teachers about AI in their schools. Many schools encourage AI use, others don’t. Some teachers complain that their children don’t write their papers anymore, or do their own research. Other teachers admit that they use AI to grade their student’s papers. Does that mean that a student could submit an essay that they didn’t write and their teacher will have an AI grade it? If this is the case, neither the student nor the teacher are involved in the process. Is AI going to start teaching AI? What will the students be doing? What will they be learning?

My child takes an online class every week and I get to overhear it while I’m in the next room. Then, a few hours later, I get an AI-generated summary of the class, which is completely inaccurate and misleading. I know this, because I was there and heard the whole lesson. I am constantly surprised by what the AI chooses to say about the lesson each week. It is never completely true. It always feels like reality is falling apart when I read it. I don’t want that to be a part of education. Have you had similar experiences?

Sometimes my child asks a question about something they are learning about, and I attempt to look up the answer on the Internet. I see the AI summary, and I often notice that it seems incorrect. Sometimes it is correct, but is often misleading, or doesn’t really apply to the exact question. I have to dig deeper and research to confirm this. However, effective research takes 10x longer because so many websites have incorrect information now. Many articles are just regurgitated copies of other articles, and are often false. It’s hard to see this, having known that the Internet used to be easier to use and more reliable. “Googling” things is not a safe way to find accurate information anymore.

But how many people will actually go through the trouble of seeing if information is correct? People will start to learn and believe things that are incorrect on a regular basis. If the AI summary says it is correct, then people will believe it. If an AI-generated article says something is correct, then people will believe it. And the more AI-content fills the Internet, the more AI will take from itself…creating an infinite game of “telephone”, where everything gets more and more diluted, convoluted, and less and less accurate.

I can’t help but be reminded of the classic novel, The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. It imagines a future where technology has caused humans to evolve to be less intelligent, relying entirely on past inventions. Is this possible for us? Are we encouraging less thinking? Less trying? Is that what people really want?

AI is Terrible for the Environment

Some people are surprised by this, but yes, it is true.

AI uses an incredible amount of energy. If you ask AI a question, for example, it is going to run thousands of processes for each word it generates. The millions of people using AI all day long requires a huge amount of energy and bandwidth.

Billionaires and large companies are working to create many giant AI facilities that will contribute to climate change and damage our world. Using AI ourselves also contributes to environmental damage and will make our planet worse place to live on for ourselves, future generations, and all the animals and plants that we co-habitate with.

We are supposed to be improving climate change, not making it worse.

The Greed of Capitalism / How Companies Make It Hard to Avoid AI That Benefits Them (And Not Us)

Capitalism is at the root of everything. Greed and the desire for money and power is devastating to all of us. This explosion of AI is led by Capitalism and greed. It is designed to make rich people richer, and to trick us into thinking our lives will get better, but it actually makes things worse.

Companies that push AI features make it very difficult to avoid them. For example, my hosting company recently sent an email that they would automatically install a new plugin that integrates WordPress with their AI generation suite. There is no way to opt out beforehand. I will be deactivating it as soon as they do this. It seems that everywhere I post my music (such as Spotify, YouTube, etc.) has AI features that I don’t want, but I have no power to change that.

All this said, I am doing what I can to not be part of the problem.

My Stance: Not Using AI Content or AI Music-Making Tools

I have made a promise to my listeners and customers that I will never post AI-generated music, use AI-generated assets (like images or videos), or even use AI Music-Making tools when creating my music. I don’t want to automate what I create in any way, and I want to have the trust and authenticity that people expect.

I hope more people will do this as well!

You can help me achieve this goal by letting me know if I ever make a mistake. For example, I sometimes use images made by photographers or artists. I always try to make sure they are genuine creations by an artist (and to credit them and follow their license appropriately), and hopefully I won’t be fooled. It can be hard to tell, sometimes.

Also, the services I use are often pushing their AI features and I do my best to not use them. That said, it is sometimes impossible to deactivate certain things. I will always try to make my work (and my website) as user-friendly and authentic as I can. For example, I won’t add any AI customer service bots or predatory e-commerce features. I will be doing everything I can to help make the Internet better and keep art alive. Will you help with that as well?

P.S. If you are suspicious that this post is self-serving, that is not my intention in the slightest. Luckily AI has not affected my business too much, but I am very concerned about everything I see out there. I have been an Internet entrepreneur and supporter of technology for many years and I don’t like the direction things have been going. The Internet is changing, and getting worse—fast! I want to encourage people to look at this problem and see the direction our society is moving in. 

Please Help The World’s Art Stay Human-Made / Humanity Needs Our Creativity

Again, AI is not inherently bad, and it can be used for good! However, it is currently being used poorly.

Please help keep art alive! Help to support hard-working artists. Make sure your own creations are authentic! Don’t contribute to the problems that are tainting our society.

One of the best things about humanity is our creativity. We can’t automate creativity. We need to treasure it, foster it, and be passionate about it.

We can make change together. There are so many ways we can make positive change. We can make amazing art and also help AI to be better for the world. Let’s not get steamrolled by Capitalism. Stand by your morals and values! Let’s make this world a better place! We have more power than we know.

Thank you for reading this.