Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park told fans in a Discord Q&A that after trying various AI tools for a while he is no longer a fan. He now uses AI only to look up things to do in a city or to research a topic, and said that while the picture is nuanced, the news about the companies behind the technology disturbs him and he is more sceptical than ever.
Metalheadzone notes the change from his earlier stance. Shinoda was one of the first backers of Authentic Artists, a startup founded in 2019 that makes virtual AI-powered musicians who give concerts and respond to audience requests. When it came out of stealth in April 2021, with money from James Murdoch's Lupa Systems and Roblox's Craig Donato, he was named as an investor and adviser.
He was more than a passive backer: he worked with the company on virtual acts whose music could be generated in real time, and at the time praised its ability to build songs from scratch in seconds. The company still describes itself as a pioneer of studio-grade AI music and real-time generative music systems.
The outlet links his shift to a wider backlash in music: more than 200 artists, among them Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and the Jonas Brothers, signed an open letter urging tech firms and services to stop using AI against artists, and groups including the Music Artists Coalition and Songwriters of North America objected to default AI clauses in label and publisher contracts. It also points to a Canadian rights body's lawsuit against Suno and a survey in which 87% viewed AI in music creation negatively. The site's reading is that Shinoda is now weighing those tensions while keeping only a narrow, practical use for the tools himself.
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