Garth Brooks Shares His Thoughts on AI: “It Scares Me to Death”

Updated:

June 16, 2023 11:55 am

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Garth Brooks is opening up about his perspective on artificial intelligence (AI).

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After a press conference in Nashville on Thursday (June 15) announcing his new global country music radio station, The Big 615, Brooks spoke with American Songwriter and other media about his experiences with AI.

“I don’t know about that,” Brooks replied about if he’d record a song written by AI. “You’re always open to any songs, so you don’t care who the writer is unless it’s somebody that they’re trying to destroy the world.”

Brooks had a brush with AI. He revealed that when TuneIn Radio, the platform that’s hosting The Big 615, asked him to record radio liners to be played on-air, they ended up using AI instead. The system was able to accurately mimic Brooks’ voice, right down to the sound of his laugh.

“They had liners they wanted me to do, so they went through AI to do it,” Brooks explained. “And I’m going, ‘That’s me, I don’t remember doing these liners.’ I am listening to AI and it had the little laugh in it.”

The hitmaker says that he’s unclear about how he feels about the software, but is trying to keep an open mind. One benefit he foresees is if AI could help extend the longevity of his career even after he’s passed away.

“The hopeful in me, I’m not sure what the hopeful is unless AI can create Garth Brooks of a certain age and he can tour in hologram forever,” Brooks says with a smile. “I would go in a heartbeat to go see the Fab Four all together again. It’d be fun. But the scary part … it scares me to death. I don’t want to be a gloom and doom guy, but it’s like all technology, you need to be able to regulate it before we unleash it.”

Brooks has launched The Big 615 as a way to bring country music to audiences around the world, playing a myriad of songs by artists across generations. “The chance we have here with a global conversation is to spread love, spread family,” Brooks said at the press conference. “That’s what it’s all about. If we made this world smaller through music, then hopefully we can understand each other and fight less. So this is a good chance for us to do something really good.”

Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for CMT/ViacomCBS