Does Africa need to embrace AI to keep its music center stage?

Described as a virtual singer powered by artificial intelligence (AI), Mya Blue says: “I’m not an enemy, I’m just a music lover who explores the different sounds of the world.”

Her Instagram account, where she makes this statement, has the tagline: “I’m not human but I sing with my soul” – and is the brainchild of Nigerian musician and producer Eclipse Nkasi.

He features in his recently released remix of Jorumi, a classic tune by Nigerian highlife artiste Sir Victor Oyefo.

He and his creators want to address the concerns that many musicians around the world have about the impact of AI on the music industry.

Earlier this year, for example, high-profile artists like Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj called for an end to the “predatory” use of AI tools that they say steal artists’ voices.

And given the lack of understanding of AI across Africa, and the fact that AI relies on data sources collected in the West, there are concerns about how African music and cultural heritage will be affected.

But there are many African artists and industry professionals who are excited about the possibilities this emerging technology offers.

In fact, says Nkasi, the fact that AI is in its infancy in Africa could be a boon for the continent.

“There is a huge risk, but just saying: ‘Let’s kill AI’ won’t work – too many countries and people have invested,” he told the BBC.

“The best we can do is find better ways to use it.”

The 33-year-old is determined to be that pioneer and last year even produced the continent’s first AI-powered music album, Infinite Echoes.

Nakasi says he has deliberately taken a manual and creative approach to using AI in his music, mainly using it to create samples.

“My biggest drive with AI is its application, finding healthy ways to apply it. With every project it was important that it did something that moved the needle,” he says.

But while Nkasi is happy to experiment with new technology, some see it as a threat to African culture.

For Kenyan musician and producer Tabu Osusa, this underscores the danger of cultural appropriation – in which AI shuts down African sounds without acknowledging their source.

This is because AI is able to quickly create new compositions by learning from existing music.

“My problem with AI is ownership. Once you take some music from Ghana or Nigeria, who owns that music? How do you find out where the original creators are and make sure they get it?” To be given credit? It’s stealing from the backroom for me,” Osusa told the BBC.

“Due to unsystematic sampling practices of musicians, AI will enable record company moguls in the West to make huge sums of money while leaving some creators in African villages in extreme poverty.”

This fear is reflected in a report released last year by Kenya-based arts platform Creatives Garage, which teamed up with the Mozilla Foundation to study the impact of AI on the East African country’s creative communities.

Creative Garage research consultant Bokunola Ngobi says he discovered that most Kenyan musicians were concerned that AI could lead to others taking advantage of their creativity.

The study also warned that AI’s power to store data could sound the death knell for the culture surrounding traditional music.

Ngobi says one musician even questioned whether recording and storing traditional sounds to imitate AI might discourage local artists from continuing to learn traditional instruments.

Osusa goes even further: “Most of us in Africa don’t study music, we’re born with it. We live it. It’s very spiritual. Music in Africa is always alive. It’s very dynamic.” It should not be taken away from us.”

Yet the report showed that for those with access to tech devices, AI not only provided creative musical development, but also the opportunity to develop affordable marketing and design services.

This, however, will do little to help budding artists from Africa’s poor communities – and may hinder their music careers, warns Ngobe.

“How do you participate if you don’t have a laptop to begin with or you’re a musician in an environment with no internet connectivity?” He told the BBC.

For those who want to innovate, one of the problems facing Africa is the lack of data from the continent to set up algorithms. Searches are often shaped by Western biases that reduce the accuracy and quality of work produced by AI for African musicians.

For example, when Nkasi created Mya Blue using AI, he ran into problems portraying her – the artist is portraying a Gen Z American girl with blue hair.

“AI is very limited in how it understands and senses my space,” he says.

But the Nigerian musician sees this as an opportunity for human contribution: “The limitations we Africans experience with AI can be a good thing.

“One could argue that, while the AI ​​may not be able to produce a very detailed African voice, there is still room for a guy who can play it. So I’m not sure when we think of it as a problem. So what are we really fighting for?”

Fellow Nigerian Emmanuel Ogala, boss of AI-powered company Josplay, certainly sees opportunities for Africa.

His company uses AI models to gather detailed metadata and intelligence to create archives of the continent’s diverse music heritage.

“African music is really complex and it’s one of the most misunderstood types of music,” he told the BBC.

This was reflected at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, when South African musician Tyla won Best Afrobeats Song for her hit Water.

During his acceptance speech he railed against the tendency of Western award bodies to group all African artists under the umbrella of “Afrobeats” – a music genre more associated with Nigeria and West Africa.

“African music is very diverse,” he said. “It’s not just about Afrobeats. I come from South Africa. I represent. Ampiano. I represent my culture.”

Ogala feels that AI will overcome such homogeneity and benefit African musicians by showcasing the continent’s cultural diversity to the world.

“Many of the academics we talk to have knowledge that is very specific to a very small area of ​​African music. You have to note for African listeners that our listening That’s how fragmented the culture is. You can’t do that humanly,” he says

As AI continues to advance, there is a consensus among African music artists, producers and researchers that better funding is needed.

“We need to invest in data infrastructure for the opportunities it presents to really be taken advantage of by people,” says Ngobi.

Ogala agrees and says raising funds to develop his own digital archive AI tool is difficult.

“We, the founders, are funding this project from our own pockets because of our belief in the industry. If we put the basic building blocks in place, the industry will become much more viable than it is now.”

This includes uncertainty about copyright legislation written for a pre-AI era that will need to be renegotiated. Copyright is already a huge problem for African artists whose music is often pirated, sold and played for nothing on the continent.

These challenges aside, there is a growing realization that unless the African music industry embraces new technology, it is in danger of losing control of its craft and heritage.

And Nkasi’s Mya Blue certainly has big ambitions.

During her Instagram Q&A, when asked if she could win a Grammy, she said: “Who knows. As an A.I. [artist]I don’t dream of trophies, but of touching hearts through music. But wouldn’t it be fun to see a virtual artist on that stage?”