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Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cCowboy Carter\u201d has been out for only a few days, yet it\u2019s already obvious that we\u2019ll be talking about it for years to come \u2014 it\u2019s breaking records<\/a> across streaming platforms, and the artist herself calls it \u201cthe best music [she\u2019s] ever made.\u201d But in the middle of the press release<\/a> for \u201cCowboy Carter,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 made an unexpected statement against the growing presence of AI in music.<\/p>\n \u201cThe joy of creating music is that there are no rules,\u201d said Beyonc\u00e9. \u201cThe more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyonc\u00e9 rarely does interviews, giving each of her comments about the new album more significance \u2014 these remarks are among few jumping-off points fans get to help them puzzle through each element of the album, and how they all fit together. So her stance on AI isn\u2019t just a throwaway comment made in conversation with a reporter. It\u2019s deliberate.<\/p>\n The central backlash against AI-generated art<\/a> comes from the way this technology works. AI-powered music generators can <\/span>create new tracks<\/a> in minutes and emulate artists\u2019 vocals to a <\/span>scarily convincing<\/a> degree. In some cases, that\u2019s because the AI is being trained on the work of the artists whose jobs it could end up replacing. <\/span><\/p>\n Large language models and diffusion models both require sprawling databases of text, images and sounds to be able to create AI-generated works. Some of the best-known AI companies, like Open AI and Stability AI, use datasets that include copyrighted artworks without consent. Even though Stability AI\u2019s music model was trained on licensed stock music, that\u2019s not the case for the company\u2019s image generator, Stable Diffusion. Stability AI\u2019s VP of Audio Ed Newton-Rex quit his job<\/a> over this, because he \u201c[doesn\u2019t] agree with the company\u2019s opinion that training generative AI models on copyrighted works is \u2018fair use.’\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder artists like Beyonc\u00e9 have strong feelings about this technology \u2014 too many AI models have been trained on artists\u2019 work without their consent, and especially for rising musicians who don\u2019t have the clout to buoy them, it will be even harder to break into an already ruthless industry. Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s stance makes even more sense in the context of \u201cCowboy Carter\u201d itself.<\/span><\/p>\n Though it does not explicitly discuss AI, \u201cCowboy Carter\u201d already addresses the theft and appropriation of artworks without consent. On the album itself, Beyonc\u00e9 is giving listeners a history lesson about how Black musicians formed the foundation of country music, which is too often assumed to represent Southern white culture.<\/p>\n Even the title, \u201cCowboy Carter,\u201d is a nod to the appropriation of Black music for white people\u2019s gain. Though \u201cCarter\u201d could reference Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s married name, it\u2019s also a nod to the Carters, the \u201cfirst family<\/a>\u201d of country music \u2014 and those Carters took the work of Black musicians<\/a> to develop the style we now know as country, which continues to exclude Black artists (just recently, an Oklahoma country radio station recently refused a listener\u2019s request<\/a> to play Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em,\u201d since Beyonc\u00e9 didn\u2019t fit their definition of a country artist). Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s seemingly random stance against AI unearths a similar truth: Once again, artists\u2019 work is being stolen without their consent and contorted into something else, leaving them without payment or credit for their cultural contributions.<\/p>\n There are a few moments on the album when ninety-year-old country icon Willie Nelson appears on a radio show called \u201cSmoke Hour,\u201d and its first appearance precedes \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em.\u201d The placement of the track takes on an extra layer of meaning in light of the Oklahoma radio incident, and Nelson makes a slight jab: \u201cNow for this next tune, I want y\u2019all to sit back, inhale, and go to the good place your mind likes to wander off to. And if you don\u2019t wanna go, go find yourself a jukebox.\u201d<\/p>\n This is Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s world: The jukebox and the radio are back in style, Black musicians can make whatever kind of music they want, and no one\u2019s art gets stolen.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n