AI Till Sunset or Sundown?

At some point in time things change, like a cell splits into two, a fish decides to walk out on land and some dude decides let me fool around with artificial intelligence.

 

Here’s the thing, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would see it all unfold in real time. I need to tell you what just happened to my brain, because I think it’s short-circuiting.

 

So, I’m cruising the web and stumble upon this band, “The Velvet Sundown.” And let me tell you, it was sonic perfection.

 

We’re talking ’70s vibes, those old school harmonies so tight they could cut NAMDEB diamonds, and guitar licks that felt like a warm hug from my dad’s old record collection.

 

I was hooked. I was in love.

And then I read the fine print.

 

It’s all fake!

The band? Doesn’t exist.

The music? Cooked up by an algorithm.

The moody, sepia-toned promotional photos? Generated by a machine that probably also designs cat memes in its spare time.

 

They racked up a million streams by pretending to be a nostalgic rock band, and it turns out they’re about as human as my Alexa device.

 

 

Now, for those of us of a… certain vintage… this all feels horribly familiar. Remember Napster? That cheeky little program that showed up in the ’90s and basically flipped the script on the entire music industry in front of the whole world? It took them decades to recover, finally figuring out streaming and tours.

 

But this! This is different. Napster came for their distribution model. AI is coming for their jobs. It’s not just disrupting how we get the music; it’s asking if we even need the messy, expensive, emotionally volatile humans to make it in the first place!

 

And it’s not just musicians! Remember when the internet was going to be a golden age for graphic designers? For a while, it was! Then came the templates. Then came the online logo generators. The very tech that created the jobs started eating them for lunch.

 

Now AI is back for dessert. Who needs an illustrator when you can just type, “Draw me a squirrel riding a skateboard, but in the style of Picasso, and make it sad”?

 

 

So now the whole creative world is having its Napster moment. The industry is panicking, demanding labels on AI music. “I have a RIGHT to know if this emotionally devastating ballad was written by a heartbroken Vaughn Ahrens or a line of code!”

 

And here’s the really hilarious part: does anyone actually care? We, the consumer, have a long and glorious history of choosing convenience over literally everything else. Trying to legislate against this is like trying to hold back the ocean with a teaspoon.

 

The part I’m almost ashamed to admit…

 

I’m listening to The Velvet Sundown album again right now. And it’s a banger. It’s really good. Part of me thinks this is all a genius, 4D-chess marketing stunt by a real band.

 

If it is, my hat is off to them.

But even if it is, it doesn’t matter. The point is proven. AI can make music that fools us, that moves us, and that can fill the background of our lives without any of that pesky human drama.

 

So, The Velvet Sundown might be digital ghosts, but they’ve given us a terrifying glimpse of the future. A future where human creativity isn’t a necessity, it’s an optional extra. A boutique, artisanal product. Like hand carved chopsticks.

 

And that, is a thought far more haunting than any ’70s rock melody. 

 

Now if you’ll excuse me, these AI ghosts are playing my jam.