In a new Mind Matters podcast, host Robert J. Marks sat down with James Hirsen, who performed as a musician for many years, to talk AI, deep fakes, and the possibility of artificially contrived music.

Hirsen defended the human uniqueness of jazz music in particular, noting how in this musical genre, spontaneity and in-person experiences are essential. He says,

And I’ve experienced it many, many times, but especially in intimate gatherings, when a musician is playing jazz or blues in a club and there’s a group of people interacting that, I believe, cannot be emulated by any AI that I’ve experienced. But on record, I think they can do it. So music’s unique in this sense. If jazz is being performed it’s being performed in real time at the moment, and it’s something where there is a spontaneity based on the mood that’s in the room, and obviously a record isn’t going to do that. Live records do it to an extent because you join in the room at the time. But there’s something magic that happens in performance art that is improvised and that interacts with an audience that is distinctly human.

Listen to the rest of their conversation here: Can AI Mimic Spontaneous Jazz and the Blues? | Mind Matters