Riley Green Slams The Use Of AI Songwriting – “The Laziest, Most Commercial Thing You Could Ever See”

No lies detected.

Against all odds, the biggest threat to country music right now (and music as a whole for that matter) is not lazy lyrics, uninspired production or the constant need to shove 808 beats and electronic percussion into nearly each and every song occupying the Top 40 on country radio. While those still are quite annoying, at least they’re created by humans. Today, the fight against AI infiltrating music is not just a concern but a genuine threat.

At this point, we’ve already seen an AI-generated song top the Billboard Country Digital Songs Sales chart back in November. Whiskey Riff reported that a track titled “Walk My Walk,” by an artist called Breaking Rust, had seemingly fooled the masses. It’s a complete AI creation all around – from the artist, to the music video, to the song itself.

However, when you dig into the weeds surrounding the Billboard Country Digital Songs Sales chart, you quickly find out that the chart is not only extremely outdated due to the simple fact that not many people consume music via digital downloads (streaming on services such as Spotify and Apple Music are still on top). Additionally, it’s quite easy to manipulate via bots and members of the team behind Breaking Rust simply buying the song over and over using different methods.

With that being said, it seems like Breaking Rust and the developing story surrounding AI music is just the tip iceberg, and that iceberg is not only massive in size but extremely concerning to those who are champions of authentic (and I can’t believe I have to say this now, human) music like we are here at Whiskey Riff.

And now that new stories of AI artists are popping up seemingly out of nowhere, it’s been the cause of concern for some of the biggest artists in the genre today. We’ve already seen the likes of Charley Crockett, Brooks & Dunn, Zach Bryan, Jason Aldean and more express their concerns about the looming threat of AI infiltrating the arts.

Riley Green, who recently became the first artist since Taylor Swift to score back-to-back solo-written #1 hits on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (“Worst Way,” “Don’t Mind If I Do”),  has weighed in on the conversation surrounding AI’s place (or lack thereof) in music.

During the CMA Awards back in November, Billboard Country Green was asked about the aforementioned Breaking Rust topping Billboard’s Digital Country Songs chart.

“I don’t really know a lot about that. I hope that’s not happening.”

Well, Riley… hate to burst your bubble. While he was not fully aware of the matter at hand, he did share that half the reason listeners connect with the genre is the storytelling and the ability to connect with others’ similar experiences.

“But I’ll say I don’t think there is any AI situation where you can really put true emotion into something. You can say this or that, but the storytelling is what I think makes country music. So I think only a human who’s been through those emotions and felt them can really do that.”

One of the red carpet interviewers then noted that his 2019 hit “I Wished Grandpas Never Died” has so much emotion, to which Green responded that it would be very hard for AI (in his opinion) to recreate a song that evokes that much emotion.

“Yeah, let your calculator write that song!”

Earlier in December, during his appearance on the Like a Farmer podcast, host Pat Spinosa would ask the “Worst Way” singer his thoughts about AI once again.

Being realistic, Green would note that there are undoubtedly beneficial uses, especially from a data and analytics standpoint, before shutting down the notion of it ever being viable for songwriting and art in general.

“I feel like there’s probably a really useful world for AI. Writing songs is probably not it.”

The Alabama native would then touch on the inherent laziness that comes with the use of AI-generated art, comparing using AI-generation and tools to write songs to cheating on a test in college. Finally, he’d issue one of the most scathing and ultimately correct takes on its usage in songwriting, calling it the most “commercial thing you could ever see.”

“That’s the laziest thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s the most ‘me in college’ version of writing songs ever. You know, looking up the SparkNotes for a test. I can’t comprehend it other than the fact that it’s the most commercial thing you could ever see. I just don’t think that there’s a world where AI is gonna write something that’s gonna make you feel a real emotion.”

And it’s safe to say Green really hit the nail on the head here. Beyond the obvious issue surrounding AI “art,” which is the simple fact that all AI generators are stealing from artists by pulling from previously created work across all mediums, as its use becomes more prominent, it’s only going to be used to create the cheapest, most surface-level songs imaginable. Of course, that’s not even mentioning the fact that execs can forgo paying songwriters to write a song when they can pump out hundreds of radio-ready songs (potentially with a few tweaks here and there) at zero cost as well.

Overall, AI in music is a threat that’s very real and doesn’t just affect one single aspect of the industry. At the very least, it’s great to see Green use his platform to continue to fight against its use, especially when we’re seeing even more AI “artists” pop up on Spotify seemingly weekly.