Now, in June 2023, the advancement of AI technology is significantly changing our lives.
AI, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, is widely active in a range of fields, from programming and daily business operations to the production of visual content.
This wave naturally extends to the realm of music as well, and it is likely that in the near future, adding sound effects to video and simple composition will become a specialty of AI.
While some people fear their jobs being taken over by AI, others look forward to the potential for AI to dramatically improve productivity.
But there is one thing to ponder here.
Music produced by AI is always generated within a computer and "emitted from a speaker".
However, in the real world, the sound coming from speakers is just a fraction of all sounds.
Frogs croaking, the wind rustling leaves, human singing, violins, the sound of glass breaking, and so on. Most sounds are emitted directly from their source.
In other words, most of the sounds in this world continue to ring, unrelated to AI, and AI does not dominate the world of sound and music in the first place.
While it can be interesting to be swept away and enthusiastic about AI, I think it's also good to look at this simple fact right now.
Now, I am thinking about exploring the world of sound that AI cannot touch, while facing AI.
For example, instruments played by nature.
Instruments like wind chimes, deer scarers, and suikinkutsu, which are played by wind and water, allow you to face the sound comfortably, detached from the busy flow of modern life.
A wind chime made by my friend Mayuko Aoki, a glass artist living in Sapporo, is a wonderful example of this.
BluePond
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdCMwHJPC3p/
Currently, I am exploring whether we can develop the musical instruments (sound-producing objects) made of glass that Aoki-san creates as products.
While learning about AI every day, I also value time to listen to natural sounds that are unrelated to AI.
The form of music I aim for does not just stay in composition and performance.
Now, I am starting to think that spreading objects to the world that make sounds with nature (water, wind, snow, rain, etc.) is also part of my musical activity.
Perhaps at the end of this exploration, there may be a world of sound where AI and nature harmonize.
I want to consider not only what humans create, but also what nature itself plays as music, while being excited about the evolution of music created by AI, I want to pursue the sound of nature.
What's important here is that the exploration of AI technology and natural sounds doesn't exclude one or the other.
Rather, I envision these two perspectives working complementarily, potentially opening up new horizons in music.
