It's all because of you!

About composition, performance, artificial intelligence

Abstract

The emergence of schizophonia (Schafer, 2001) brought the possibility of separating performance from the instant of its realisation, allowing for unlimited repetition, ad infinitum. Acoustic mediation thus began to link performance, listening, and memory inseparably. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the nature of creation shifts its centre of reference: mediated music is no longer limited to the copying or reconstitution of soundscapes, arrangements, or performative models; it now allows for the inclusion of new works created from sampling. This triggers a radical process of dissociation between work and performance. Consequently, the multiple versions unlinked from the original result in semiotically complex situations, in addition to raising ethical issues (related to rights to image and voice, etc.). Under a semiotic approach, the extent to which the sign can replace the real body and voice must be analysed. We selected Now and Then, the Beatles' music video, and the Volkswagen commercial "70 anos – Gerações," both featuring already deceased artists (John Lennon and Elis Regina). It is demonstrated that, through artificial intelligence (AI), signs come to extend the life and career of artists posthumously." The AI technologies allow the signs to extend the life posthumously