Opinion: The case for protecting human musical creativity

There are benefits that artificial intelligence might bring, but replacing human musical creativity is not one of them. If we want to safeguard pipe band creativity from machine intervention, pipers and drummers should petition associations to enact rules prohibiting it.

For those who prefer the written word, here’s a slightly longer text version of the video:

The case for protecting human musical creativity

Fact: competing pipe bands always search for a competitive edge.

Whether it’s new music, the latest sound stability solution, or easier-to-tune instruments and methods. Ultimately, they look for ways to please listeners (mainly judges) and themselves with the least risk taken and energy expended.

That’s what artificial intelligence promises in virtually every aspect of humanity, including music.

Already, AI is being used to create film scores, pop songs and, we can assume, everything else. And that’s after only a few years of widespread availability to anyone who wants to experiment with it.

Governments, businesses and schools are scrambling to corral the proverbial horse that’s galloped from the barn. They’re realizing something needs to be done, but they also see the popularity of AI with their constituents. Harnessing and legislating AI risks alienating voters, employees and parents.

For sure, AI can be used for good: speeding up drug discovery, diagnosing serious health problems, predicting the next earthquake. Those are human-preserving, beneficent things.

But AI also threatens to replace the human aspect of creativity – the most glorious achievements of the human mind. AI can’t delete humans, but it threatens to delete humanity – the defining characteristics that distinguish humans.

Piping and drumming, as it is now, is a gloriously human endeavour. Sure, there are new gadgets that promise a competitive edge, but, like the Highland pipe itself. they are still invented and created by humans.

Just watch the Medley Playbook discussions with the world’s elite Grade 1 bands about how they create their medleys: by leveraging human creativity, musical experience, and composition talent to build a selection that reflects their band’s unique identity.

Rest assured, there are pipers and drummers right now who are seeing what AI can do to help them win prizes. They are creating “data sets” to allow AI to determine or even compose music, arrangements, and scores that have proven to be competitively successful.

“There are no rules against the use of AI in pipe band music. There are also no rules against stealing original ideas from other bands. The difference is humans “taking inspiration” from existing creativity is far different from an inhumane machine spitting out calculated content.”

You might disagree, but that’s a threat to our beautifully human art form. At a time when pipe bands are producing the most creative human-created music in history, AI threatens to undermine our wonderfully human achievements by automating that wonderful process.

There are no rules against the use of AI in pipe band music. There are also no rules against stealing original ideas from other bands. The difference is humans “taking inspiration” from existing creativity is far different from an inhumane machine spitting out calculated content.

“If pipers and drummers oppose the use of AI in pipe bands, they need to make that known to their associations.”

If pipers and drummers oppose the use of AI in pipe bands, they need to make that known to their associations. Members need to petition for safeguards before piping and drumming, like so many other creatively human domains, is swept up with early adopters looking for a solution to their creative shortcomings.

Enforcing safeguards against the use of AI is certainly a challenge, if not impossible. But most competitors follow the rules of the competition. Those who don’t can be identified. They’re talked about. They’re eventually expelled from the rule-abiding endeavour.

Piping and pipe bands are a beautifully human endeavour. They must remain purely human.

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Further discussions on artificial intelligence and piping and drumming:

• Artificial Intelligence in competitive piping and drumming: a panel discussion – Part 1
• Artificial Intelligence in competitive piping and drumming: a panel discussion – Part 2
• The Future of Competitions: harnessing artificial intelligence for objective judging