It's a smokey jazz dream...
Gratitude, AI jazz, and the perfect influencer
Hi all,
Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone who checked out and/or shared Episode 101. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Dorian Lynskey.
Episode 102 will be out on Sunday 10 December - I’ll tease you with some more details about it soon.
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During my ongoing exploration of the ever-shifting dystopian dunes that are accreting around us on the winds of fate and change, I had a play with yet another AI music-generating website.
The prompt:
A 1940s smokey jazz number with brushes on snare, ride bell, and walking upright double bass
The result:
What a world we live in, eh? It cuts out randomly at 1:20 because I was of course using free credits. AI is (apparently) going to take everyone’s jobs, so there’s no need to give it our money too.
It even generated lyrics:
[Verse]
In a dimly lit room, where the smoke dances and swirls
A jazz band plays, transportin' you to another world
The sound of brushes on the snare, creating a gentle beat
The ride bell chimes, taking you to the streets
[Chorus]
It's a smokey jazz dream, a melody that never ends
With the upright double bass, we sway and we transcend
Let the music take you, on a journey so serene
In this 1940s scene, where the spirit is evergreen
Is AI going to eat the world? Can it ever truly replace a thinking, feeling, breathing human to such an extent that other humans don’t notice or care? Has it already happened?
I’ll take the last one first:
That’s from the Instagram page of an AI influencer created by a Spanish designer. ‘Aitana’ apparently makes more than $10k a month and ‘her’1 agency has been approached by brands looking to jettison their unreliable meat puppets for a more malleable custom-built digital alternative. Aitana is less likely than the average social media influencer to go on a Nazi rant or get caught with a purse full of blow, since she can’t physically carry a purse or harbour National Socialist sympathies because she doesn’t physically exist. People are so much more manageable when they aren’t people, right?
The details are murky on how much of her income is from brand sponsorship of the Insta feed vs. flogging nudie pics by subscription, and questions definitely arise as to where and among whom the market for AI nudie pics exists. Even dolls and robots are passé now that there’s an app[etite] for a vapourware version. On behalf of your good selves, and due to my own combination of morbid curiosity, prurient interest, and dystopian fascination, I’ve reached out to the agency that created ‘Aitana’ to see if they’re up for a chat - watch this space!
It’s a smokey jazz dream indeed. Stay sane out there, my friends.
I’ll stop putting quotes around pronouns now since it will get tiresome. Thank you for reading this footnote!