Empire of the Sun performed at the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal this past weekend, and frontman Luke Steele sat down with iHeartRadio’s Shannon Burns to share, among many things, his take on using AI to make music.
When asked about the many songs they’ve teased making in the studio recently, Steele said, “We make a lot of songs, and now thanks to AI and all of these great programs, we can finish them.”
AI has become a widely divisive topic when it comes to making music, with artists both loudly opposing and embracing it as a songwriting and production tool.
But the Australian-born Steele says that he “of course” uses AI when he’s recording music for Empire of the Sun, adding that the battle is “quite exciting, because it’s humans versus AI.”
“It’s just another tool, like a really smart guitar pedal,” he says.
When asked what he says to his fellow musicians that reject the idea of relying on artificial intelligence to create art, Steele warns that “you’ve got to be careful” not to fall behind.
“It’s so powerful,” he says. “The AI is going to empower artists that know how to use it, and they’re going to become unstoppable. The artists that are against it have got to be careful, because it’s going to come and swallow you like a boogie monster at night.”
“I think we gotta embrace it,” he added.
As for new Empire of the Sun music, Steele says the group have “gone through another door” when recording the follow up to 2024’s Ask That God.
“[With] each record you have to open a new door and work out where you end up,” he explains. “That’s kind of what creates a new path. It’s good when you never know where you going to end up. That’s what makes great records.”
Watch the full interview below.