Philosophy

Abstract

This chapter explores the evolving relationship between musicians and machines capable of generating music indistinguishable from that made by humans. Martin Clancy develops a theoretical model with the real-world capacity to respond to AI technologies’ economic and ethical implications. The theoretical model will demonstrate that many assumptive values based on humanist philosophical tradition are inadequate to address the challenges presented by AI technologies. For example, expressions of intellectual property (IP) are designed as economic rewards exclusively for human creativity. Similarly, at the national and intergovernmental levels, the construction of AI ethics reports (EU, OECD, and WIPO) is underpinned by unchallenged concepts of ‘human-centred’ values and adhere to a highly interpretable formulation of human well-being. Martin Clancy proposes that what is required is an ecological, nonanthropocentric, posthuman framework that can pragmatically enhance the mission of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Music is a relevant and pragmatically examinable sector-specific case study to investigate the provocations of AI and consider the following legal and ethical responsibilities. This chapter will define the ‘sustainable music ecosystem’ and enrich theoretical approaches to AI ethics.