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David Guetta: AI Will ‘Win’ Over Human Creators

“You cannot fight with this,” says the legendary DJ/producer, who thinks the role of human music-makers will come to revolve more around choosing the best of AI output. “It’s impossible”

David Guetta AI

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

“At the end of the day, we all do what we’ve learned,” hit-making DJ/producer David Guetta says on the new episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. “The difference is that AI is gonna be able to learn everything. So of course AI is gonna win at the end because you’ll be able to say to say, ‘I wanna make, a soul record. And AI will have all the soul chord progressions in history, with the exact percentage of the ones that have been the most successful, and the key that is the most favorable for this chord progression. You cannot fight with this. It’s impossible, and so I think that more and more it’s gonna be about taste and not only technical abilities.”

Guetta, who debuted a song featuring an AI-generated Eminem rap earlier this year, weighs in on the making of that track, the possibilities of AI, and more in the new episode, which expands on our recent special report on AI in music. To hear the whole episode, go here to the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.

Also in the episode, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid talks about his concerns that major labels could use AI to “eliminate artists,” and the team behind Neural DSP, which uses neural nets to create near-perfect digital versions of guitar amps, explains what it took to replicate Tom Morello’s rig.

Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out six years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, The National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters.

From Rolling Stone US