AI Music Is Dividing Musicians
In this panel excerpt, Kevin Surace recounts presenting an AI‑generated, four‑minute musical number to a room full of musicians and educators. The demonstration sparked a stark split: one half of the audience was eager to explore how quickly AI tools could accelerate their creative workflow, while the other half reacted with outrage, calling the technology blasphemous and questioning the fairness of bypassing years of training in instrument mastery, theory, and technique. A second speaker describes the emotional turmoil this provokes—a "dark night of the soul"—as some feel a crisis of identity, whereas others are excited about the prospect of collaborative AI‑driven jazz sessions. The discussion highlights both the ethical concerns and the creative possibilities that AI brings to music creation.
