Super producer Dr Dre has thrown his weight behind the use of AI in music, and predictably, the backlash is furious.

In an interview with Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine (where the influential industry shaker also shows his support), the producer/rapper makes an appearance to say that the fear of AI is simply a replay of past Luddite panics, and that people who see AI as a threat “are the people who have trouble creating”.

He recounted to the New York Times: “I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago. They were against AI and I’m like, ‘OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out.’ Or synthesisers, right? It’s a new tool for creativity. Some people are afraid of learning new things. I’m embracing it. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with this.”

For someone of Dre's stature - a man who helped to innovate and define the sound of West Coast hip-hop and whose distinguished ear led him to a billion-dollar headphone empire - the idea that AI is merely another tool must feel self-evident. He was an active participant in the wider normalisation and adoption of drum machines, sample-based production and digital recording, each met with scepticism by purists, but all eventually expanding the possibilities of our sonic palette. In such a........

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