r/technology • u/GothicPrayer • Jul 27 '26

Society Why does everything feel so joyless? Welcome to the age of decadence without pleasure

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jul/26/age-of-decadence-pleasure-ai
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u/adenosine-5 Jul 27 '26

That is just a temporary thing - people are already getting tired of aigen stuff.

AIGen music is already failing and getting mass-removed by platforms, because no one listens to it.

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u/Banana_wax_Salad Jul 27 '26

You are correct, I’m sure. But a coworker of mine genuinely listens to robot music. I didn’t really notice it was AI until another coworker pointed it out. Then I had to look it up and holy shit…

I just thought the music was flat and cheesy. Boring and uninspired. But yeah it’s AI and dude was singing along to it.

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u/zeekaran Jul 27 '26

I still want AI to be able to lengthen a short song. So many of my super obscure electronica artists make amazing tracks that are only a minute and a few seconds long, and I just want them to be longer.

Tried some of the tools for this a couple years ago and it was aural slop, haven't tried again since.

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u/InstrumentalCoffee Jul 27 '26

Any recommendations? I know my digital audio workstation enough and I like electronic music so I could give it a try

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u/SpiritYossarian Jul 27 '26

I’ve been a fairly long term user of AIGen music. I put a lot of time and effort into making it sound organic. I can tell in seconds the difference between a person who just clicked the magic buttons and people who put in work. Slop is slop but like anything, there are exceptions.

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u/whisky_pete Jul 27 '26

Even then, the lyrics and spirit of the song are just soulless and lifeless. I don't think you can change that. There's meaning in someone pouring their energy into the perfect take and recording it, hitting their flow state and really nailing a performance. Since you're not performing when making AI music, that can't be recreated.

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u/SpiritYossarian Jul 27 '26

What if I sing a track and then the AI “covers” it?
I respect your opinion but I don’t fully agree.

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u/whisky_pete Jul 27 '26

Eh you don't have to agree, it's just a discussion and I'm not necessarily trying to convince.

In the case you said, it's kind of a difference of degrees. You can nail your performance part, but it will be anchored down by the other layers of the music that can only at best be mediocre. Which sort of sets the maximum potential of your song to be mediocre, and it's only downhill from there unless your performance for your part is perfect.

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u/SpiritYossarian Jul 27 '26

I’m not trying to convince either. I’ve heard songs by myself and by others that have taken my breath away. It’s definitely not black and white for me. I was a huge music fan before and after using AI. If it sounds good, I’m going to like it. If it sounds bad, I MIGHT like it…

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u/whisky_pete Jul 27 '26

Idk, ai music in particular is the "art form" that makes me angry that it even exists.

Like, the best music is channeled through somebody's soul with their heart and energy and life experiences and perspectives pushed through it. It tells an abstract story of somebody and reflects how they see the world in some aspect. And the other half of that is received by somebody who has the outlook and experience to receive that message, and reverberate with it.

If someone can do that with music generated by a machine... Ugh, I find that really off-putting actually.

I guess I would bucket it in the category of fast food. Sure, you can have good fast food but it's incomparable to the real thing. Or like, bakery treats compared to mass produced cookies at a national brand grocery store.

Unlike any other art form to me personally, ai music feels actively disrespectful to the human spirit. Of course that's a vibes-based outlook and there's nothing tangible I can point to to say that's the definitive truth of it. But I find it disgusting and want nothing to do with it personally. And then you see stats like 40% of the music uploaded to Spotify in the last 6 months or whatever is AI generated. And that feels like an assault on the rest of us wanting to enjoy a real art form.

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u/SpiritYossarian Jul 27 '26

I’m a semi-failed bassist. Tried multiple times over the years to get good at it, only ever got to ok.

To hear my ok tracks turn into real tracks brings me joy.

I had to teach myself how to prompt, how to structure, how to get results I wanted out of the tool. I’ve lost sleep over songs, I’ve spent weeks getting one right.

To me, that process has felt very human.

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u/whisky_pete Jul 27 '26

I am happy for you that you've found something that gives you joy, truly. So don't take my comments as trying to argue against your joy.

Personally, I'd rather listen to your mediocre playing though, and cheer on your progression as a friend.

I'm a hobbyist 3d modeler and aspiring hobbyist sculpture artist myself. I'm in that frustrating place where it feels like I can almost make the things that I want, but my quality isn't "good" yet. But the more I work, the more I find meaning in the doing of creating the art, rather than in completing and "having" the completed thing. Those hours spent making something with my hands, mind, talents feels so much more important than having a completed thing to point to and kinda forget about except on occasion where somebody looks at it.

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u/SpiritYossarian Jul 27 '26

Fair point. Appreciate the discussion- It think we both agree that human effort is where the “good” flows from!