Hundreds of Berklee College of Music students and graduates in Boston have put their names to an online petition opposing a new two-credit class, "Bots and Beats: AI and the Future of Songwriting". It also asks the school to stop using AI on campus. By 14 April it had 418 signatures, Futurism reported.
The organisers accuse Berklee of promoting OpenAI's ChatGPT. They say such tools take the work of tens of thousands of artists, damage the industry and the environment, and turn out imitations of human art. Commenters, many of them current or former students, said they were let down by a school known for training popular musicians. One graduate said students paying fees should not be steered to AI instead of working through each assignment themselves.
According to its description, the course looks at how AI can help and hinder songwriting and what it means for the industry and music careers. Berklee told WBZ that as an artist-first school it must prepare students for the technologies shaping the creative industries, and will keep doing so in line with its principles.
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