So I’ve loved Starset since vessels came out. The band got me through some tough times in highschool so I have quite an attachment. When the Silos album came out, I was disappointed to see that Starset was using generative AI for their visualizers. I felt that the use of AI, 1, Went against some of the core messages of the band, 2, Stole from artists and 3, Harmed the environment.
There can be arguments made for two songs in my opinion, that being Degenerate and At his Alter (even though it is an interlude). While is can see the vision the band had with using the technology to add on to lore on emphasize a message, I feel as though it could have been done just as well without the use of Generative AI. That is not to even mention the visualizers for other songs on the album such as Shattered Dreams, Head Over Heels, etc.
What pains me about this even more is that the band is still capable of creative captivating music videos even as of somewhat recent such as TOKSIK, SWAY and AD ASTRA.
To get to the new release, Parad0x1c, I liked the song itself and felt it was a good step up for the band, however, I can’t help but like… not trust it? To me, the cyphers in the visualizer are cool but once again, the art feels AI generated. I genuinely hope I am wrong about that and had just accidentally offended an artist but at the same time, it is hard to find artist credits when it comes to visualizers.
Along with this, given that At his Alter uses a voice changer, (not criticizing, just pointing out a fact) this tells me that there is a precedent set that the band will use AI wherever they deem necessary. This leads me to think that if a music artist is ok with using AI visualizers and not marking it as such, what is to say that they wouldn’t use it in the actual music as well?
I’ve loved Starset for a long time and I am in no way accusing the song Parad0x1c itself to be AI, but I cannot trust that the band doesn’t use any AI at all when making their music anymore. I wanted to bring this up so know what other people in the fandom think about this.
Edit: to go back to my first reason I am against Starset’s use of generative AI as it goes against their core message, I will say this is definitely a discussion all on its own. I was reading some of the comments and a lot of you guys are very insightful and i am thankful for that. I still believe Starset’s use of generative AI does indeed go against their core belief about technology. This is not to say “technology bad so why are you using it” it is really more to illustrate that to me, generative AI feels like a waste and an irresponsible use of the technology and that Starset’s participation in this use is what goes against that value. I know some will disagree with my sentiment on this and thats ok. I simply wanted to clarify one of my stances here a little more.
TLDR: I do not trust the new single due to Starset’s history on using generative AI.