This commentary considers the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to music and the sonic arts. It critiques the classical computational theory of mind (CCTM), a doctrine deriving from functionalism, which codifies the “mind” as a mathematical function in which the symbolic representations of the internal mental world are mapped onto states and circumstances in the external physical world. This approach is agnostic insofar as the function can be computed on either biological or electronic “hardware.” This model renders the internal workings of thought and mind irrelevant. Such a function is thought to be computable on either biological or mechanical hardware, thereby rendering the internal workings of thought irrelevant. This technocratic impulse has been used to sell AI and ML products as “magical” solutions, capable of ushering in utopian futures. This viewpoint began with the foundation of computer science itself, as metaphors for computational processes were...
AI/ML in the Sonic Arts: Pitfalls and Pathways
Stephen Roddy is an artist, researcher, and lecturer based at the Radical Humanities Lab and the Department of Digital Humanities at University College Cork. His work spans and integrates both computing and the creative arts.
Robin Parmar is a media artist who creates nonnarrative films, generative music, and environmental compositions exploring psychoacoustics, phenomenology, and epistemologies of nature. Robin has a doctorate in sonic creativity from De Montfort University (Leicester, UK) and currently directs a media program at the University of Limerick (Ireland).
Stephen Roddy, Robin Parmar; AI/ML in the Sonic Arts: Pitfalls and Pathways. Resonance 1 December 2023; 4 (4): 399–408. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/res.2023.4.4.399
Download citation file: