Derek Thompson

As absurd as this might sound to some people, and frankly, it sounds a little absurd to me too, it does create the possibility of a partnership where you write this little guitar riff, you write a little piano piece, you wonder, is this a thing? You record it, you feed it to the AI, it adds other instrumentation and something new pops out that then you can run with.

Is this kind of how you see working with AI now?

Is this kind of how you see working with AI now?

Is this kind of how you see working with AI now?

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me just dribble some cold water on all of this. Do you have any sense that musicians actually want to work with these tools? Like since your WNYC piece, did musicians write to you to say, sorry, dude, this is completely alien and messed up? Or were they interested in using AI as an extension of their creativity?

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me just dribble some cold water on all of this. Do you have any sense that musicians actually want to work with these tools? Like since your WNYC piece, did musicians write to you to say, sorry, dude, this is completely alien and messed up? Or were they interested in using AI as an extension of their creativity?

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me just dribble some cold water on all of this. Do you have any sense that musicians actually want to work with these tools? Like since your WNYC piece, did musicians write to you to say, sorry, dude, this is completely alien and messed up? Or were they interested in using AI as an extension of their creativity?

So when you and I were emailing back and forth about doing this show, you proposed what I initially considered a pretty weird experiment. You said, Derek, if you want to make a little piece of music and send it to me, I can use my AI tools to build something out of it. So... I dabble on the piano a little bit. I don't play anything very good, but I can sort of play triads.

So when you and I were emailing back and forth about doing this show, you proposed what I initially considered a pretty weird experiment. You said, Derek, if you want to make a little piece of music and send it to me, I can use my AI tools to build something out of it. So... I dabble on the piano a little bit. I don't play anything very good, but I can sort of play triads.

So when you and I were emailing back and forth about doing this show, you proposed what I initially considered a pretty weird experiment. You said, Derek, if you want to make a little piece of music and send it to me, I can use my AI tools to build something out of it. So... I dabble on the piano a little bit. I don't play anything very good, but I can sort of play triads.

I can hunt and peck little melodies. And last week, I happened to be at a recording studio finishing the second half of the audiobook of Abundance. So I'm in the studio. They have beautiful pianos there. I sat down and I played something that I'd come up with.

I can hunt and peck little melodies. And last week, I happened to be at a recording studio finishing the second half of the audiobook of Abundance. So I'm in the studio. They have beautiful pianos there. I sat down and I played something that I'd come up with.

I can hunt and peck little melodies. And last week, I happened to be at a recording studio finishing the second half of the audiobook of Abundance. So I'm in the studio. They have beautiful pianos there. I sat down and I played something that I'd come up with.

And this is like a little interpolation, a little riff on one of my favorite pieces of classical music, a concerto by Shostakovich, who is a 20th century Russian composer that I like. So I recorded it. I emailed it to you. And I said, I imagined it could serve as the basis of a Danny Elfman style, Tim Burton fantasy or a Pixar fantasy tale theme. And here's how it goes.

And this is like a little interpolation, a little riff on one of my favorite pieces of classical music, a concerto by Shostakovich, who is a 20th century Russian composer that I like. So I recorded it. I emailed it to you. And I said, I imagined it could serve as the basis of a Danny Elfman style, Tim Burton fantasy or a Pixar fantasy tale theme. And here's how it goes.

And this is like a little interpolation, a little riff on one of my favorite pieces of classical music, a concerto by Shostakovich, who is a 20th century Russian composer that I like. So I recorded it. I emailed it to you. And I said, I imagined it could serve as the basis of a Danny Elfman style, Tim Burton fantasy or a Pixar fantasy tale theme. And here's how it goes.

When I think about this song and the degree to which I wrote it, I feel very weirdly like two things are true. One is that I did not write this. I didn't come up with the inspiration of the original arpeggio. I certainly didn't finish the track that you just played. But that sits alongside this very strange other thing that when I sent this audio file to my wife,

When I think about this song and the degree to which I wrote it, I feel very weirdly like two things are true. One is that I did not write this. I didn't come up with the inspiration of the original arpeggio. I certainly didn't finish the track that you just played. But that sits alongside this very strange other thing that when I sent this audio file to my wife,

When I think about this song and the degree to which I wrote it, I feel very weirdly like two things are true. One is that I did not write this. I didn't come up with the inspiration of the original arpeggio. I certainly didn't finish the track that you just played. But that sits alongside this very strange other thing that when I sent this audio file to my wife,

and my wife said she liked it, I reflexively felt a little bit proud. I felt proud about something that I'm not entirely sure I even did. I wonder, A, whether that makes any sense, and B, whether it touches on the emotional, legal, moral, artistic messiness of creating art with AI.