1
0
[Originally published in the February Issue, 18th of February 2026]
Whether it would be your grandma showing you a video of a Dog playing the Guitar, your Mum creating a Simpsons Calendar, or your little brother simulating Michael Jackson’s voice on a Kendrick Lamar song, there is no doubt that AI generated material has taken over the ways we both consume and create material. Gone are the days where if you wanted to hear Peter Griffin sing Bad Romance, you’d have to trawl Fiverr and pay a Peter Griffin voice actor to sing it for you. Today, a simple typed prompt can achieve the same result but faster and cheaper.
However, as the use of AI has infected creative spaces, its adoption by major artists and producers – such as The Weeknd and Timbaland – has caused the conversation about its use to morph from curiosity into concern.
The main problem concerning AI systems is that they’re ‘trained’ using enormous amounts of previous human work, most of the time without artist consent. Then by using Reinforcement Learning (RL), where humans reward an AI system for producing something that is deemed ‘correct’. This process is repeated with more resources, until you’re left with a perfect rendition of your chosen art piece.
But to an active listener, instead of feeling ‘perfect’, it feels…flat…boring and soulless. How can this happen?
Thomas Varghese, a Classical Arts Scholar and trained Computer Scientist, researched this exact problem in his article AI Music Reminds us of the Importance of Human Imperfection. He argues that in the incoming years, mistakes will no longer be flaws, but rather moments of authenticity. They will become a sense of comfort to the reader that there are humans on the other side, a sense of tension that something could go wrong.
Katharina Natividad, a logistics consultant for major opera companies, offered a similar reflection. In Taiwan, her uber driver played a calm jazz piece that soothed her stressed soul. However, as she searched up the artist behind it, and began listening to all their songs, she found it to be repetitive, soulless, AI slop. After that, she began listening to real artists again.
The search for imperfection and soul in a world filled with algorithms and repetitive elements leads people back to a frontier once seen as ‘dying’. That is Live Entertainment.
According to Reuters 2025, Live Nation, the parent company of TicketMaster, posted higher than expected third-quarter revenue, driven in part by strong fan demand. Further on, it stated that 2026 is “off to a strong start” and showing double digit growth in event revenue.
Similar growth can be seen in the Performing Arts sector. A new report by RAND found that both the number of organisations offering Live Art, and the amount of people attending live art shows, are increasing dramatically.
Both these increases can be seen in our own backyard of Brisbane, where the purchase of live concert tickets in 2025 was the highest in over a decade. Major Music acts like Deftones, Drake, and Hilltop Hoods, have all added more shows right here in Brisbane due to the insane amount of demand for live entertainment.
As a Metalhead myself, 2025 and now 2026 have become glorious years to be a Brisbanite metalhead, as more metal artists than ever before, like TOOL and Electric Callboy, are flying into the river city to perform shows that sold out months in advance.
Referring to Thomas Varghese, he put it best when he said that:
“The goal [for performers] is no longer flawless execution, but presence: the ability to respond, adapt, and hold a room in real time. The question for musicians isn’t whether AI will enter the room. It’s which parts of the experience remain irreducibly human.”
In short, your music, acting or artwork is no longer your pinnacle, it is how you perform it and keep a distinct human connection with your audiences.
Paradoxical to the current economic crisis, music lovers around the world are seemingly starting to cancel their Spotify Premium Subscriptions and return to the bar gigs and theatres. Whether consciously or unconsciously, this is a form of protest against the AI invasion, and it is up to us to continue the fight for a music scene that rewards soul over sophistication.
Sources:
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB2504.html
https://reports.liveperformance.com.au/ticket-survey-2024/index.html#
https://www.sfcv.org/articles/music-news/ai-generated-music-here-what-do-we-really-want-it
Author
Views: 989