Ed Sheeran says he finds AI ‘weird’ and that we should pay attention to the movies where ‘they kill us all’

• In an interview with Rolling Stone Ed Sheeran said he wasn’t keen on AI.
• The musician said he found the tech a “bit weird” and worried about its potential to take jobs.
• The generative AI boom has made its way into the music industry and angered some artists. 

Ed Sheeran is not buying into the AI hype. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the musician said, “I just find AI a bit weird,” adding that he didn’t see why society needed it. “I’m just like, ‘Have you not seen the movies where they kill us all?'” he said.

Sheeran also expressed fears about the potential for AI to automate jobs. He told the outlet: “The whole point of society is we do jobs and do things, if everything is done by robots, everyone is gonna be out of work.”

Sheeran is far from the first musician to speak out against AI’s increasing presence in the music industry. Because the technology has led to an explosion of songs that mimics established musicians’ voices and styles, many of them have criticized its usage.

Such artificially generated music has provoked the ire of Drake, who took issue with a song generated in his style, and Ice Cube, who declared the tech “demonic.”

Nice Cave has also been scathing about AI, saying a ChatGPT-generated song written in his style was not only poor quality, but also “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human.”

Others, however, have been trying to get ahead of the new tech. Grimes has launched AI software called Elf.Tech, which allows users to make music in her voice and style. Any content created using the software can be commercially released if artists agree to split royalties with the singer.