Some thoughts on AI

After using macOS for over 25 years for both work and private projects, heavily using open-source software, I fully switched to Linux around 2019, following many previous attempts at experimentation and switching.

Initially, this presented particular difficulties for my music production, which is why I have since devoted myself to promoting Linux for music production.

My goal was (and still is) to encourage music software vendors, particularly smaller (boutique) developers, but also larger ones, to support Linux which would, in turn, make the platform more attractive to producers, engineers, and musicians.

Quite a bit of my motivation to support Linux stems from my wish that everything in this world would be open source rather than controlled by mega corporations or governments.

And, for quite a while, things seemed to be progressing really well. More and more vendors introduced Linux support for their products, and the situation for music production (and actually, for most other things) on Linux was improving.

However, as the AI boom (or bubble, or whatever we'll soon be calling it) grew, the situation became increasingly unpleasant for me.

Suddenly, countless new plugins and tools were introduced almost every day, prompting me to wonder where they all came from and what need they were supposed to fulfill.

And, I'm not saying that there weren't some inspiring, or even excellent, products among these new offerings. Overall, though, this flood of new products just didn't feel right to me.

So, while I was struggling to keep up with all the new vendors and software becoming available for Linux, I received responses from established vendors saying they weren't even sure if their company or products would still exist in a year from now. Others told me that, in a couple of months, AI might be able to create the desired Linux ports for me, but that they would likely become obsolete by then anyway.

Suddenly, I felt my mission was in jeopardy. And my motivation was suffering because it looked like this new situation wasn't going to simply disappear or sort itself out over night.

As a lowlight of this development, the other day, I watched someone coding an agentic DAW on YouTube. They prompted in great detail and in various iterations what to compose. Then, at times, they waited 10+ minutes for Claude or ChatGPT to generate the desired results, which they could have most likely created in a couple of minutes by actively making music without AI themselves. While this doesn't make me pessimistic overall (I am, by nature, an absolute optimist) it has very little in common with what music making meant to me for all my life.

Now, I'm not particularly interested in AI for its own sake because I prefer to create things myself. I prefer to learn and grow and sometimes feel intimidated or overwhelmed rather than delegate my skills and fulfillment to AI, which at the same time is massively contributing to the ongoing destruction of our beautiful earth.

I'm generally not against AI, but I'm pro living, playing, learning, experimenting, and collaborating with other humans.

And, I write all of this while I am still genuinely the happiest boy alive, making music, playing with Linux, and all the fantastic software available today for this mind blowing open source platform, and that truly feels meaningful to me, unlike the whole AI boom.

And, I am not even talking about greedy companies selling us resource-hungry LLMs as AI in their quest for world dominance on a path that might never be able to become profitable.

Again, I am not against AI. I think it is interesting. Nonetheless, I believe in humanity's rise in consciousness first, and from where I am at right now, I am not sure if AI is helping with that.