No Generative AI At Berklee- Disband Bots, Beats and Bytes

I'm pissed off that the school that I've been affiliated with is promoting this class - I can't in good conscious promote Berklee until this decision to have this class is reversed.

I graduated from Berklee in 2020, and seeing that they have introduced AI courses feels like an absolute slap to the face. This shows nothing but disrespect and an absolute disregard towards students time, money, and education. Teach your damn students what they actually want to learn.

I am a Berklee alumna and am concerned about the future of our industry due to AI generative music platforms. Berklee is the flagship school carrying on the traditions of nurturing human expression, I am hoping they will rethink this curriculum.

I am concerned about the environmental impact of creating this much heat to do jobs that people can and should be doing at a much higher quality.

As a Berklee Alum, encouraging the use of generative AI in music is the antithesis supporting artists on their career path once they leave the institution. We need to be fighting against AI usage in the industry, not normalizing it.

As a current Berklee student, I think there is an ethical way to use AI as a tool if the output is treated as source material to be transformed into something fundamentally different from what was sampled, but this class is NOT that. It is entirely unethical to outsource the creativity involved in songwriting to an algorithm you didn't design. Berklee should teach students how to become better songwriters rather than how to outsource that skill to a machine, slightly altering it and calling it yours (which it isn't)... I'm not saying there is no place for AI discussions at Berklee, students definitely need to be prepared for realities of the industry, but to endorse its use like this is completely unethical. Berklee shouldn't be in bed with any AI companies... not to mention beyond the moral/ethical framing, there is a HUGE copyright issue for any students (specifically in the game industry) who sell the copyright to their work. if any AI was used it cannot be copyrighted, and therefore the copyright cannot be sold (because you have no idea where the AI output came from). And if AI cannot be used in the (game) industry, then it absolutely should not be pushed onto students. Bottom line is there needs to be total financial separation from Berklee and ANY AI company/tools they are pushing. Like separation of church and state, AI companies have no place in a creative educational institution.

Shame on you Berklee for supporting this. AI has its place but not in the sacred act of music creation. What type of message are you sending to the next generation and what type of future are you supporting?

As someone who was unable to complete my degree at Berklee in large part due to the financial insecurity associated with being a musician and paying for my education, it's extremely disheartening to see my alma mater embracing a plagiaristic, parasitic, existential threat to the artform and career paths that so many of us have dedicated our lives to pursuing.

Berklee, how can you try to teach your students in one class how to have a successful career in the music industry, and in another class, be openly PROMOTING the number 1 thing that's taking away career opportunities for your very same students? Could it possibly be because Ben Camp, the professor teaching the course in question, has ties to Suno? Surely not......

A ridiculous move - especially given the incredible names that have taught and studied there. Human creativity first. First. (Abdicate this at all our peril)

NO AI!!!

As alumni, I am appalled that Berklee is offering this class. Funny enough, we would have our papers checked for AI use, yet they want to teach us how to use it as well. Absolute hypocrisy from this institution… stop undermining artists and empower them. AI is not equivalent to “drum machines” taking drummers jobs either. The music that these models are trained on was illegally scraped from the internet without artist consent. Do better Berklee.

Tarnishing the hard work of all the musicians that came through, and are going through program. Unbelieveable.

AI is dumb and stupid

I graduated in 2013, this is embarrassing and we as musicians are above this.

The thought of my alma mater glomming onto the AI boom is more than I can take. This is, or was, a serious institution of musical learning, and if the college’s administration were serious musicians of any kind, this nonsense wouldn’t happen. You cannot take the humanity out of a creative human endeavor and have it retain any value.

AI is not a human. Period.

I attended Berklee’s summer guitar program for three years in high school and attended two semesters when I graduated. I’m currently a guitar teacher and music director. I find Berklee’s willingness to bend the knee to AI tech appalling. I will no longer recommend any of my students go to Berklee because of this.

This is disgraceful to say the least