In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been strongly applied in the music industry. In some countries, music products using AI voices have attracted millions of listeners, and even virtual singers and virtual stars created by entertainment companies can compete directly with real artists on the charts.
In Vietnam, the recent appearance of a series of songs composed and performed by AI has also attracted special attention from audiences and experts, creating a lot of controversy. When AI music becomes more and more "powerful", where will artists be in the digital age?
Virtual singer sings better than "beautiful brothers and sisters"?
AI is creating new developments in Vietnamese music, but the trend of AI "invading" art also causes many mixed reactions.
Many people oppose AI music because they believe that the use of artificial intelligence is only for entertainment and experimentation purposes, not real art. Music using AI is considered to lack depth and emotion.
However, there are also opinions that the audience only needs to feel whether the music is good or bad, regardless of whether the music is composed by AI or created by humans.
With recent AI music videos that have attracted attention such as Say mot doi vi em, Mua chieu (rock version) or Da Lat con mua khong em?, many opinions say that: AI is virtual, but the connection between AI music and the audience is real. Some opinions even say that AI sings well and creates emotions no less than humans.
Musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Music Association (Photo: Screenshot).
Talking to Dan Tri reporter, musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that the best thing about AI music making software is the ability to improve recording quality, adjust and reproduce vocals on demand.
Thanks to its flexible customization capabilities, the AI voice is almost technically perfect: eliminating errors in singing out of tune and out of breath, creating a thick, resonant and powerful voice - something that is very difficult to achieve with a real singer.
"I think the AI-generated voice is extremely perfect. For example, AI can create a recording with a voice of up to two octaves, full of power and climax. Normally, only choral singers, tenors, and sopranos can sing this high note, and very few commercial singers can conquer it.
In addition, Vietnamese people's throats are thin, so in real life, only a few singers can handle such high notes, such as Elvis Phuong, Huynh Loi, Tung Duong... As for the singers in Anh trai say hi, Chi dep dap gio , I think their voices are not too special, they cannot sing with power like AI, but they mainly attract attention thanks to stage effects and performance," musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien expressed his opinion.
Musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien cited evidence that AI voices in some songs are "better than real singers". "Like the song Say mot doi vi em, I think singers like Nguyen Vu and Ho Le Thu sing well, but in the B section of the second chorus of the song, they still cannot "touch" and create a climax with the AI voice," the musician said.
AI sings "Diem Xua" by the late musician Trinh Cong Son (Video: AI love song).
The author of the song Oh! Loving Life also believes that, besides the advantage of being able to adjust the voice's power, AI software also opens up new directions to support musicians.
Young musicians or people without financial means, if they know how to use AI, will save a lot of costs in the production process and easily spread the product to the audience.
"Usually, music production for musicians is very expensive. Recording a song costs 6-10 million VND, recording an album of 10 songs costs 70-100 million VND, not to mention the cost of filming a music video. In addition, finding the right singer with a voice suitable for your song is very difficult and time-consuming.
Meanwhile, with today's advanced technology, producers do not need to hire professional singers to record. They can optimize the process, use AI to record, listen to many drafts with the vocal style they like, then complete the post-production and upload to the platforms at a very low cost," said the musician.
Artificial intelligence threatens artists' livelihoods?
The "invasion" of AI creates a lot of pressure for artists. When recordings created by AI are fast, cost-effective, and meet high sound quality standards, many singers and musicians - especially young ones who have not yet established a position - are at risk of being eliminated.
Musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that the story of “musicians losing their jobs because of AI” has begun to appear. Many programs, businesses or film crews can now use AI to create their own promotional songs, instead of hiring musicians to compose. Even recording is gradually no longer necessary to have a live band, as AI tools can simulate musical instruments with increasingly high quality.
However, musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien also emphasized that despite the superior features of AI, the human factor still plays an important role and is difficult to completely replace.
"To exploit AI well, software users must know how to write commands. To create a good song that is loved by the audience, users also need to understand musical notes, must come up with specific ideas, and must be creative. Therefore, humans cannot depend 100% on technology," the musician said.
Musician Nguyen Phuc Thien is behind many famous songs such as: "Bong bong bang bang", "Don't love anymore, I'm tired", "You're not wrong, we're wrong"... (Photo: Facebook character).
Discussing the phenomenon of the art world competing with the rise of AI, musician Nguyen Phuc Thien - "hit maker" (creator of hit songs) of Vietnamese music - affirmed to Dan Tri reporter: "Everything has two sides. I am not afraid, not against AI, but I also do not encourage the abuse of technology.
AI is a tool that helps those new to composing music to approach the production process more easily. Thanks to AI software, young musicians save time, production costs, and have more ideas. However, if only depending on AI, the music industry will have difficulty developing. Instead of creating music with art, the songs become dry, unoriginal products.
AI music is flooding the TikTok platform (Photo: Screenshot).
One of the concerns of musicians is that AI can learn and imitate the style of composition. This poses many challenges regarding copyright and uniqueness in music. In a fiercely competitive market like Vietnam, the appearance of music produced by artificial intelligence makes the issue of "gray matter" value and artistic labor even more painful.
Inevitably, AI will improve day by day, with better quality. The rise of artificial intelligence is gradually becoming a driving force forcing artists in Vietnam to improve themselves and find solutions to adapt.
Musician Nguyen Van Chung shared his opinion: "This technological development is a challenge that any industry must face, facing competitive pressure, even the risk of being replaced. I see this as a motivation for me to perfect my composing style, to find more unique marks, to make the songs better and more special."
Musician Nguyen Van Chung recently caused a stir with "Continuing the story of peace" (Photo: character's Facebook).
Despite concerns about the future of music composition and performance, musicians still believe that no matter how much technology develops, people are still at the center of art. Music is not just about technically accurate sound, but also about the story and soul of the performer. This is something that technology, no matter how smart, will not be able to fully recreate.
"The composer's emotions and experiences are important to a piece of music, which is something that AI cannot create. For art enthusiasts, using a real musical instrument is always different from creating sounds and melodies with AI.
Artificial intelligence cannot bring complete emotions to musicians; sound quality and orchestration cannot be equal to what humans create. After all, music is art, and AI is just technology," said musician Nguyen Phuc Thien.
Musician Nguyen Van Chung also expressed his opinion that composing music belongs to the category of emotions and creativity, while AI is an algorithmic tool with the ability to collect data and create products from available synthetic information sources. Therefore, according to the musician, "AI music cannot be called a creative product".
"It's true that there are AI songs that are trending recently, arousing curiosity and being liked by the audience. But for the song to have lasting value and last long in the hearts of the audience, only the audience can answer," said Nguyen Van Chung.
Responding to a question from Dan Tri reporter about how singers and musicians should approach AI so as not to be replaced while still taking advantage of technology, Mr. Tran Thang Long - Head of music and Vietnamese artist marketing at Universal Music Vietnam - said: "This depends a lot on the global policies of governments to be able to balance the benefits of technology and the sustainable development of professional professions as well as the job market, not simply the efforts and awareness of individual individuals.
Like every other technological breakthrough of society before it, such as television, the Internet, and social networks; I think, with AI, we need to be open to quickly learn and adapt, but also need to be alert and cautious about the risks and downsides it can bring."
Mr. Long also emphasized that in the near future, the Vietnamese music market is unlikely to have "virtual stars" like some music markets in the world.
"We can create hits that attract attention, but that does not mean we have a "virtual artist" whose name is remembered by the public. In fact, there have been many singers who have famous songs but are still obscure in the eyes of the audience.
The journey from a familiar hit to becoming an artist with its own identity, a fan community and a place in the hearts of the public is a long process that requires a lot of effort. With AI, this path is even more difficult than with a real artist," said Mr. Long.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giai-tri/nhac-ai-gay-sot-nhac-si-mat-viec-ca-si-ao-se-lan-at-anh-trai-chi-dep-20251008160204726.htm
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