Music
Drumming legend Ian Paice says he’s open to having his technique replicated by artificial intelligence.
The 78-year-old, best known as the drummer of Deep Purple, spoke about the use of AI in music and the conditions under which he would allow his drumming to be copied.
Born in Nottingham, Paice’s father was a civil servant and he spent his early years in Germany before moving back to live in Bicester in early childhood.
Mr Paice said: “As a business venture yeah (he would allow his drumming to be replicated by AI), but not as a gimme, it’s got to be done.
“Only if you knew.
“Well if you died people don’t know do they?
“If it’s done with the consent of the artist, or the actor, or the ballerina, or whoever, then I don’t have a problem with it, but people must know that it’s not the real deal, then it’s not a problem.
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Handout photo of Deep Purple album Made In Japan (50th Anniversary Edition) (Image: PA Wire)
“But where that information is hidden from people, that’s a problem, and especially if it’s hidden from the artist too.
“I don’t have a problem, whatever I am is my right to sell or not sell, but it’s not their right to take it.”
The musician warned that AI is already blurring the lines between real artistry and synthetic content.
Mr Paice said: “The mass of the public believe they’re listening to people they’re not.
“listening to a computer algorithm.
“At that point, what is art anymore?
“If you can’t tell the difference between a genuine artist and a computer programme, then art has no meaning, if there is no difference or you start to prefer the computer-generated product, that’s the problem.”
Mr Paice is the only member of Deep Purple to have played on every album since the band formed in London in 1968.
He warned that if nothing is done to protect artists’ rights, creativity could lose its value.
Mr Paice said: “If you take away any art form from humanity, you’ve lost a great deal because it’s the invention.
“All AI does is recreate somebody else’s idea, and suddenly if you can write a computer programme or push a button, you’re an artist.
“It’s definitely a problem, but it can be solved, but it just needs the people in control of the markets in the world, governments, to start putting laws in place to protect those people who are being infringed, having their likenesses taken, their sound, their very being, their art, their genius.
“Otherwise, what’s the point of doing anything?”