When we think of what makes us distinctly human, I am sure you can wax lyrical about certain experiences that the T800s will never know, like:
• Falling in love with someone new while you walk, snuggling together on a wintry January morning in Hyde Park.
• The sheer joy, ecstasy and existential dread of seeing your first child.
• The day you opened your exam results after that arduous year of study with a mixture of relief and hope.
And…
For many of us, it was the first time we discovered our favourite musician, pressed play on our stereo players, and were whisked away on a sonic train of thrills, excitement, and deep introspection that only music can bring.
Surely AI can never emulate the soul and pure vibes human musicians bring?
Sadly, this seems like yet another thing AI algorithms have their digital mitts on.
Meet Harvey Mason Jr.
Mason isn't some Silicon Valley tech evangelist.
He's a songwriter and producer who has worked with artists including Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Justin Timberlake.
More importantly, he's the CEO of the Recording Academy — the organisation behind the Grammys.
In the ‘Grammys on The Hill Event’ in July 2026, Mr Mason Jr dropped a bombshell about the music industry that was crystal clear:
All your favourite musicians are using AI to make music, and it's fully integrated into the music industry. You better learn how to love it and use it.
Mason Jr., although initially sceptical, said that AI was just like every other technological revolution before it, like the electric guitar and digital sequencing. He also described the ubiquity of this technology from touching up song lyrics to creating entirely produced arrangements in minutes.
His comments have sent shockwaves through the industry and inspired thousands of hot takes on social media.
But the tension here isn't about the creative use of AI to make music; it's about its autonomous nature.
Back in the day, you still had to be a pretty good musician to get the best out of an electric guitar. (Prince's legendary guitar solo at the 2004 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame comes to mind.)
But that same electric guitar still cannot play and arrange itself, and it doesn't have the combined brilliance of the greatest musicians of all time.
AI is a totally different kettle of fish.
Has OpenAI Killed the Musical Star?
In June this year, more than 50% of the tracks being uploaded to Deezer, a massive online streaming service, each day were completely AI-generated.
That's around 90,000 AI tracks every day.
But like an old QVC advert, ‘wait, there’s more.’
When Deezer and Ipsos asked 9,000 people across eight countries to distinguish between AI-generated and human-made music, 97% failed to correctly tell the difference.
And yet those same listeners care deeply about the distinction.
80% said completely AI-generated music should be clearly labelled.
In Britain, another survey found that more than 80% of listeners believe human creativity is essential to music, and that human-created music is more valuable to them than AI-generated music.
But here’s the thing: I don’t think we are getting our knickers in a twist because HAL9000 is making banging beats.
I think our real fear isn’t the music but the feeling that all parts of our behaviour, our joys, pains and existence are slowly being atomised into cold digital data that can be stored in a data centre outside High Wycombe.
The Recording Academy itself now allows works containing AI-generated material to be considered for Grammys, while maintaining that only human creators can actually be nominated or win.
That's perhaps a glimpse of where we're heading, and the music industry is the canary in the coalmine that we all need to pay attention to.
What Happens When We Can Order Music as Easily as a Fast Food Takeaway?
Think about everything that goes into producing a song.
· Songwriting.
· Composition.
· Vocals.
· Production.
· Session musicians.
· Mixing.
· Artwork.
· Marketing.
All done at the literal touch of a button.
What happens to all those people who honed their craft for years, even decades, to be told they are surplus to requirements overnight?
AI has silently and effectively wrapped its tendrils around the whole infrastructure.
And the same thing is happening elsewhere.
Copywriters. Designers. Programmers. Translators. Analysts. Researchers. Marketers. Administrators.
This doesn't mean those professions disappear tomorrow, but it does mean the cost of producing competent work is collapsing.
And that creates an uncomfortable question for anyone preparing for the future:
If AI can produce something technically good in seconds, what makes your work valuable?
I can trot out the trite rote answer that ‘human relationships and trust will survive’, but how do you put that in a CV?
I won’t pretend that I can answer this extremely complex question in a 5-minute newsletter.
But I won’t leave you hanging either.
As I promised, if I don’t understand something, I’ll find someone who does.
And my latest guest on the Maverick School Podcast dropped some gems.
R. Shawn Williams, an award-winning product designer, technology leader, entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Ubora Thrive AI.
Shawn has spent more than 20 years working at the intersection of people and technology, and his work has received major recognition, including a White House award.
But what fascinated me was his insistence that we're asking the wrong question about AI.
We explore:
🤖 What's really happening beneath the sensationalist AI headlines and Big Tech hype
👤 Why completely replacing humans in the workplace may be much harder than people think
🚀 Why young people may increasingly need to create opportunities rather than wait for institutions to give them one
🎓 Why using AI isn't automatically “cheating” — and the healthier way to think about using it
🧠 How to benefit from AI without outsourcing your ability to think
Because perhaps the most important question about artificial intelligence isn't:
“What will AI eventually be able to do?”
It's:
“As machines become more capable, what becomes more valuable about us?”
I know you want the truth, and I think you can handle it.
Shawn offers clear advice and perspective we all need right now.
Listen to this Maverick episode on your favourite podcasting platforms. 🎙️
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep16-the-truth-about-ai-that-big-tech-isnt-telling/id1881678199?i=1000791968817
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4mkPzbMYX1b99PLCpLDG8t?si=LPSM9UatQqu-rwWDqjpokA
Podbean
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-ymyb9-1b6bb0d
That's all for today. See you in the next journal.
Take care.
Karl
