Madonna speaks out against the use of AI, calling it “the opposite of making art”

Madonna has become the latest artist to criticize the use of artificial intelligence, describing it as “the opposite of making art” whilst speaking with Vogue Italia. “Once you were around painters and musicians and dancers and artists in one place and working from a very pure place for each other,” she said, describing the changes she perceived in music and the recording industry at large. “I value that experience a lot. Nowadays you don’t do that anymore. Now to have a record deal, you think about how many followers you have… Algorithms and artificial intelligence are the opposite of taking risks and to me that is the opposite of making art.” 

In her recent single “Bring Your Love,” featuring Sabrina Carpenter, Madonna takes aim at what she sees as the tendency to focus on “the charts, the streaming numbers,” singing “don’t try to distract me with numbers / I did it all for love.” In the same Vogue interview, the pop legend also reflected on the tendency for the virtual to act as a barrier to community: “we struggle to come together… now we are isolated.” She discussed her instinct to break away from the world of social media, saying that though “lately it’s been hard because of my record and so many things connected to it. But I do like to take breaks… and disappear. Because that’s how you fuel your imagination. You have to have stillness and you have to have days where you’re just connecting to nature, my children, my horses.”

During a Q&A at the premiere of Confessions II – The Film, which accompanies the release of her forthcoming album of the same name, Madonna also took aim at technology and social media, saying it has created a “persistent need” to document everything: “I came to this earth to be a doer, not a watcher… Put your fucking phones down and connect.” Confessions II– The Film officially premiered on YouTube on June 8. Confessions II is due out July 3 on Warner Records. 

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