The AI project Stage Zero by Timbaland redeems the concepts of art and music production and raises the question in the industry about authenticity, creativity, and artistic integrity.

Stage Zero is an AI-based entertainment company led by a renowned producer Timbaland, who announced a fully autonomous virtual artist, named TaTa. Billed as the pioneer of A-pop (artificial pop), TaTa is generated on an enhanced AI-music platform Suno, which is compared to ChatGPT as a songwriter.

Suno converts demos and prompts into whole songs, cutting out the creative process. The change has resulted in an outcry against it in the industry and critics have argued that the move will displace human careers in art and music and deny creativity of its emotional content.

As such, Timbaland does not justify the innovation by citing that it breaks the creative barrier, and it marks the third era of art & music development. Nonetheless, such experts as Young Guru and musicians rights organizations perceive AI-created songs as a violation of artistic integrity.

With such a landslide in the music industry, lawsuits and moral issues are on the rise. The question remains whether AI will expand the scope of art and music, or if it will relegate it to mere derivative algorithmic productions. It jeopardizes the future of creativity.