AI won’t decimate the arts. We must interrogate it, but we can collaborate with it

In response to AI’s hyperrealism, artists and creatives are gravitating toward the homespun and imperfect Earlier this year, a group of film-makers, commercial directors and AI industry influencers gathered in New York City for the Runway AI Summit – a daylong hype-fest, trumping up the potential of this new technology. During one talk, Rob Wrubel, co-founder and managing partner at San Francisco ad firm Silverside, talked up his work on the Coca-Cola company’s AI-generated 2025 Holiday Caravan ad. “What’s incredible about AI,” Wrubel said, “is that you can go from script to production is just two weeks!” What Wrubel failed to mention was that the ad – with its computerized polar bears and fake-looking trundling delivery trucks – was widely despised by pretty much anyone who saw it. Indeed, the public distaste for the campaign became its own news story, spawning headlines like “People really don’t like Coke’s AI holiday commercial” and “Coca-Cola’s New AI Holiday Ad is a Sloppy Eyesore

ElevenLabs has released Music v2, a significantly upgraded AI music-generation model capable of shifting genres mid-track — moving from opera to heavy metal and back — while maintaining vocal coherence across fast rap, multilingual lyrics, and complex arrangements. The model introduces section-by-section composition, allowing artists to build intros, verses, and choruses independently before stitching them together, and to re-generate […]

I draw the old way – with my hand. Doing it with AI would not make me more creative, it would drain the colour out of my existence Last week I went to a gig by myself for the first time. I sat myself down in my single seat, possibly the youngest person in the room and one of thousands excited to see Split Enz. I loved it – I felt joy and heartache as the lyrics spoke of human experiences, really lived. I happily realised that I did not have to wonder whether Split Enz had used AI in their work (as I so often do nowadays) as these bangers were created long before it was even dreamed of. As a visual artist and writer myself, when I see AI generated images, music or words presented as “art”, I see red. It’s boring, it’s theft, it’s soulless, sterile and it’s killing the planet through energy and water-guzzling datacentres. Someone suggested AI “visual art” should be called “Computer Rendered Artificial Pictures” (CRAP). Continue reading...

Universal Music Group and TikTok have renewed their global licensing agreement, placing AI governance at the centre of the partnership. The deal commits both companies to removing unauthorised AI-generated music from the platform while strengthening attribution systems for artists and songwriters. The agreement marks a significant thaw after a public falling-out in 2024, when UMG […]

Critics of platform’s proposed new feature say it could accelerate the spread of machine-generated music Spotify’s chief executive has said the company’s move into AI-generated music offers users and creators a better alternative to unregulated AI slop. Last week, the platform announced a new feature in which premium users will be allowed to create their own, AI-generated remixes and song covers using music from participating artists. Continue reading...

Spotify and Universal Music Group say their new licensed AI remix platform will let fans create song covers and remixes while compensating participating artists and songwriters.

Spotify is partnering with Universal Music Group to let Premium subscribers create AI-generated song covers and remixes, with participating artists receiving a share of the revenue.

Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced a licensing deal that will allow users to prompt the creation of AI-generated remixes and covers for streaming songs. The tool will be a paid add-on for Premium subscribers. Artists will be able to opt out of the program, but those who do participate will collect royalties on these AI remixes. In October of last year, Spotify announced that it was working with UMG, as well as other major labels, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin, and Believe, to create "responsible AI products." At the time, it was unclear exactly what that meant. But this appears to be the first product of that p … Read the full story at The Verge.