Leonardo DiCaprio says even ‘brilliant’ AI music ‘dissipates into the ether of other internet junk’

Leonardo DiCaprio has spoken out about the use of AI in entertainment, believing it can only be of use if humanity is driving it.

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The Oscar winner spoke to Time after being named as the outlet’s Entertainer Of The Year, and spoke of the possibilities of using AI in cinema and music.

“It could be an enhancement tool for a young filmmaker to do something we’ve never seen before,” he explained. “I think anything that is going to be authentically thought of as art has to come from the human being.”

He used AI-generated music as an example of bad implementation. “Otherwise—haven’t you heard these songs that are mashups that are just absolutely brilliant and you go, ‘Oh my God, this is Michael Jackson doing the Weeknd,’ or ‘This is funk from the A Tribe Called Quest song ‘Bonita Applebum,’ done in, you know, a sort of Al Green soul-song voice, and it’s brilliant. And you go, ‘Cool.’

“But then it gets its 15 minutes of fame and it just dissipates into the ether of other internet junk. There’s no anchoring to it. There’s no humanity to it, as brilliant as it is.”

The use of AI has been a source of controversy in many areas of entertainment. In music, streaming service Deezer revealed in July that 28 per cent of music added to its platform is fully AI-generated.

This month, Jorja Smith’s record label hit out at an AI track that “cloned” her voice, remarking: “We cannot allow this to become the new normal,” and a new campaign called Spotify Unwrapped launched, calling for users to boycott the streaming giant over AI music among other issues.

In the film world, many artist have spoken out about the possibility of AI becoming more commonplace in Hollywood. Avatar director James Cameron said the technology is “never going to take the place” of human artistry, while star Jenna Ortega has said it’s “easy to be terrified” of AI’s potential influence.

As for DiCaprio, the Once Battle After Another star recently revealed his favourite Christopher Nolan film, surprisingly not opting for their 2010 collaboration Inception.

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