BTS’s Suga Flamed For Controversial Take On Using AI For Music

The interview discussed the increased use of AI.

BTS recently made their comeback with “Swim,” the title track of their album Arirang.

bts f
BTS

Along with other promotions for the release, the group were interviewed by Bloomberg, where they spoke about a number of topics, including group work vs solo work.

Solo Over Group? — BTS Members Bluntly Admit Their Choice

Also included in the interview was a question about what has changed since their last comeback, and Suga responded that “A lot of people are using AI tools to create music, so more pieces of music are being released into the market.”

The usage of generative AI has been debated often, with many of the opinion that it is used to replace real artists and provide less quality work. The environmental costs associated with the usage of AI also is mentioned in these conversations.

BTS’s V Gets “Scammed” By Rising Artist, Sparks Major Concerns

When asked what he thought about AI tools, Suga responded that he saw it as a change sparked by innovation and that he did not necessarily have a negative opinion. Rather, he felt that music should be judged based on whether it is good or not.

It’s like the Industrial Revolution, where there was this huge shift from horses to cars and trains. I don’t feel negatively about this change. A lot of people are putting it to use in the right way. We don’t use it.

In the past, there used to be like 100 songwriters under one producer. Nowadays, you could say that there’s an AI tool instead of all those songwriters. But the most important thing, whether you’re working with human songwriters or AI, the important thing is you need to have a discerning eye to tell whether this piece of music is good.

We can no longer reject this change because it’s irreversible now. Instead of just crossing my arms and saying ‘I’m against this,’ I feel like there will come a day when we just have to embrace what’s happening.

— Suga via Bloomberg

This response left many disappointed, considering Suga’s musical background, with many sharing feelings opposite of his opinion, even referring to it as “defeatist.”

Others felt that his response was eloquent, and brought up that he said that BTS do not use AI.

BTS

Scroll to top