AI, Inevitability, and the Moving Target We Call Music

There’s a particular anxiety that shows up whenever technology touches art. It isn’t really about the technology itself—it’s about control. Who gets to create? Who gets credit? And who decides what “counts” as real?

Artificial intelligence just happens to be the latest mirror we’re holding up to those questions.

This week’s vlog looks at gear, workflow, and ethics—but the larger conversation underneath it is simpler and older than AI:

Music has never been a fixed object. It’s a moving target shaped by culture, tools, and context.

AI Is Inevitable—What Matters Is the Role We Give It

Whether we like it or not, AI is not a temporary trend. It’s already embedded in tools we accept without thinking twice: pitch correction, noise reduction, drum replacement, timing alignment, mastering assistants. The difference now is visibility. We can see the machine making decisions, and that makes people uneasy.

But inevitability doesn’t mean inevitability of abuse.

The ethical line isn’t “AI vs. human.” That’s a false binary. The real question is authorship. Who originates the idea? Who makes the creative decisions? And who bears responsibility for the result?

When an original musical idea already exists—melody, harmony, rhythm, structure—AI can act as an assistant, not a replacement. It can help explore tone, refine dynamics, test signal chains, or speed up technical cleanup. That role isn’t new. It’s simply faster and cheaper than before.

Expensive Plug-ins Were Never the Point

For years, professional credibility in music production has been tied to ownership: racks of plug-ins, brand-name tools, expensive signal chains. But cost has never been a reliable proxy for creativity.

AI exposes that truth uncomfortably well.

If a tool can help shape an already-authored idea without claiming ownership of it, then the barrier to entry drops—not the artistic standard. In practice, this means fewer $300 plug-ins that solve one narrow problem and more focus on decision-making instead of tool acquisition.

That shift doesn’t devalue musicianship. It reveals it.

“Music” Is a Social Agreement, Not a Scientific Category

What the general population considers “music” has always been subjective and fluid. At various points in history, people have insisted that:

• Recorded music wasn’t real music

• Electric instruments were cheating

• Synthesizers weren’t instruments

• Sampling wasn’t composition

• DAWs weren’t legitimate studios

Every one of those positions eventually collapsed under usage.

Music isn’t defined by how sound is generated. It’s defined by how it’s received. If something communicates emotion, intention, or meaning to a listener, it enters the cultural category of music—regardless of how uncomfortable that makes purists.

AI doesn’t break this pattern. It follows it.

The Anxiety Isn’t About Sound—It’s About Agency

Most fears around AI music aren’t really about tone, fidelity, or process. They’re about agency: the fear that human intention will be diluted or erased.

That concern is valid—but it’s not solved by banning tools. It’s solved by insisting on clarity:

• Was there a human origin?

• Were creative decisions made intentionally?

• Is the tool serving the idea, or replacing it?

Those questions matter more than the logo on the software.

Workflow as an Ethical Choice

An iPad-centric workflow forces constraints. Fewer tools. Fewer distractions. Fewer places to hide weak ideas. In that environment, AI becomes less tempting as a shortcut and more useful as a collaborator—something that reacts after you’ve committed to a direction.

That’s the version of AI this blog—and this channel—cares about.

Not automation for its own sake. Not replacing craft. But supporting intent.

Where This Leaves Us

AI won’t decide what music is. People will—slowly, inconsistently, and emotionally, as they always have.

The real work for artists isn’t to reject tools outright, but to decide where authorship begins and ends. To stay honest about what we create, how we create it, and why.

Music has survived every technological shift thrown at it so far.

This one won’t be different.

This post accompanies this week’s iPad-Centric Workflow Vlog, continuing an ongoing discussion about portable production, ethical tool use, and the future of creative work.