大象传媒

A song written by an artificial intelligence system, ChatGPT, in the 'style of Nick Cave' has been given a scathing review by the The Bad Seeds frontman.

The chatbot took a credible swing at Cave's dark religious imagery, with lyrics like: "I am the sinner, I am the saint."
But Nick Cave called the automated lyrics "a grotesque mockery" and "a travesty".

Nick Cave has said, "Songs arise out of suffering, by which I mean they are predicated upon the complex, internal human struggle of creation and, well, as far as I know, algorithms don't feel. Data doesn't suffer. ChatGPT has no inner being."

大象传媒 music correspondent Mark Savage points out that AI systems like ChatGPT do raise issues around authorship. He says: "If it starts to take chunks of lyrics by Nick Cave and place them into a fake song that then gets published...technically that's copyright infringement."

When asked whether inventing lyrics was ethical, ChatGPT responded: "It could be seen as a tribute or a new way for fans to engage with the artists work, but other people might argue it raises ethical concerns around authorship."

(Photo: Nick Cave performs at the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Australian Carnage Tour, Sydney Opera House, Australia. Credit: Don Arnold/Getty Images)

Show less