BAFTA-winning game music composers don't see AI as a threat — rather, it could ‘revolutionize the art’

Views on AI use in content creation are often divisive, with some seeing generative AI tools as fantastic ways of doing more in a faster fashion, and others railing against it with extreme vigour. This is somewhat boosted in the world of gaming, where there have been some savage reactions from gaming fans to developers who have openly or quietly used AI in their games.

So I was mildly surprised to hear a trio of prominent game music composers be somewhat positive about AI and the effect it could have on their music and that of the wider world of composing.

At a BAFTA Games Music Masterclass I recently attended, Austin Wintory, who composed the music for BAFTA winner Journey, said he sees AI as just another step in the progression of music technology, and one that could yield new ways of composing and creating music.

“I was thinking about these kind of generative AI tools, like 15 years ago, when I was one day sitting there writing my 10,000th outro stinger [thinking] wouldn't it be cool if you could create this in real-time based on the actual cues, and I just found myself thinking about that, someday there will be a tool that can probably do that, and it will be probably pretty interesting,” said Wintory.

The composer did note that there are ethical concerns with AI ingesting all manner of human data and knowledge and being clumsy with it, but also noted that one can look at it in an open-minded way.

“So I'm not super hawkish, like ultra like pro-AI. I don't mean to create that impression, but I refuse to instantly dismiss it, because there's a lot about it that makes me uncomfortable. I try to just sit in that discomfort and go, some 17-year-old, 10 or 20 years from now, is going to do something that none of us expect, that's deeply creative and might revolutionize the art itself.

“You know, in the same way that music was fundamentally a different thing in the human experience prior to the invention of the wax cylinder recorder, and when suddenly you had the ability to record music and listen to it later, which meant people who didn't, who weren't physically in the room, could enjoy it and experience it, which also then meant it could reach a whole new people. And of course, hot on the heels of that was broadcast radio technology, which meant now our whole conception of what music is was different, because before it was the thing you made yourself or the person you knew in the room with you made it, and now you can enjoy it from strangers. And it birthed an entire new industry of music production and recording studios and all of that stuff. So I go, we might be on the cusp of just the next iteration of that.”

Wintory suggested that AI use in music could be almost normalized in some 80 years' time, where it's simply interwoven into the composition process, much like many composers use digital tools today. There may be some who won’t see this as ‘proper composing’, but Wintory noted that there are some people who still think real composition should involve writing out music by hand; there’ll always be different schools of thought.

Pushing composing creativity

Speaking of that, Borislav Slavov – the composer of Baldur’s Gate 3’s music, which also won a BAFTA – sees AI not necessarily as a tool he’ll embrace, but more something that encourages him to be ever more creative in a fashion that AI can’t replicate.

“AI cannot invent something that was never, truly, never heard before, and at the same time it can, but it could be, you know, hard to listen [to]. But to invent something that is exciting, emotional, and never heard before. I believe that only [a] human being can [make decisions in music that resonate with other humans],” said Slavov.

“I believe that AI is gonna consistently start pushing us out of our [comfort zone] and will start pushing us to invent and to explore new directions, directions that are not accessible to AI that cannot make decisions that will be meaningful for human beings.

“What does that mean? I try to change the sonic representation of my compositions in a way that it would be really difficult for AI to do without a human being sitting close to AI and closely taking decisions on every single step during the composition and the production process.”

Slavov suggested other composers will follow suit and be ever more creative with music, perhaps breaking from music theory and looking at compositions without harmonies or beats or something even more weird and wild.

“The very fact that I'm forcing myself to start exploring new directions, which at the same time keeps me inspired and emotional, is a positive thing in my book,” he said.

Jesper Kyd, composer of BAFTA-nominated and winning music, notably that for Assassin's Creed, highlighted that music does change fast, and like Wintory, he noted that technology has played a role in music for some time, specifically citing the example of drum machines.

“It started a whole new music style, you know, the early dance music. I mean, we could have never imagined 10 - 20 years before these drum machines came out [that we’d have] this rave music and rave culture,” Kyd said.

While music can be seen as an inherently human thing, given the emotions it can elicit, Kyd quipped that things may change even there: “I used to say that you can't teach AI to have a bad childhood, you know. But now I'm thinking maybe there's an algorithm for that.”

A surge for the real

So, going by what these esteemed composers have to say, AI might not be an existential threat to music, or indeed other creative pursuits, if it's embraced as a tool to fuel innovation rather than take shortcuts. As someone who’s not exactly a big AI user or sees it necessarily as a force for good, I was pleasantly surprised by the positive takes of the composers.

On top of that, both Slavov and Wintory think the rise of AI will drive people to have a greater desire for authentic live music, to the extent that it could cause a boom in live performances.

“I bet we'll see a big resurgence in in sort of small venue, unplugged musical artists, where there's no microphones, you're in the room, it's a theater this size, and the biggest stars in the world will be people that can play and perform and sing and do whatever, in a way that there is just no question that it's a real thing,” concluded Wintory.

Having seen the music the composers created live at the first ever BAFTA Games in Concert, a rather fantastic experience, I couldn’t agree more with the desire to see authentic music played live, even being as big a streaming and Spotify user as I currently am. And I really do hope that AI will be a positive bit of technology in the world of game music and beyond.

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