Swedish producer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren, best known for his work in Hypocrisy and Pain, has made it perfectly clear where he stands on the use of artificial intelligence in creating music. In a recent interview, the veteran musician dismissed the idea of using AI algorithms to generate music or album artwork, emphasizing the supreme importance of human creativity.
Speaking with Poland’s Noise Magazine, Peter Tägtgren was asked if he had ever experimented with AI during his creative process. He quickly shot down the notion, explaining that the core purpose of songwriting is personal expression and organic creation.
“Nope. I know sometimes [social media users go] on our Instagram or Facebook and [post] A.I. stuff, and I see people [going], ‘Well, no, no.’ … They hate it. But, no, I never even thought about doing that. I don’t need to — I have ideas. And that’s the whole point of writing — to get your ideas out.”
Rather than viewing machine learning as a legitimate tool for serious musicians, he suggested it is better suited for novelty projects or casual users entirely outside of the music industry.
“Those, those tools are for — I don’t know — truck drivers who want to write their own music,” Peter continued. “Just in particular, anything except a musician — it’s good tools for them to write, ‘Oh, my brother’s birthday. It’s [his] 40th birthday. I need to write him a song.’ Okay, A.I. ‘Happy birthday,’ blah, blah, blah. I think it’s more a tool for that. But, of course, I’m sure there’s other people who’s trying to write music in the band. But I never tried, so… I am not interested.”
The conversation also touched upon the controversial and growing trend of using AI to generate album covers. While acknowledging that artists are free to make their own choices, Peter Tägtgren reiterated his preference for utilizing real, human visual artists.
“Whatever works. It’s up to every person, I think, to decide what they wanna do. Like I said, I wanna stay away from A.I. as long as I can, put it that way. And there’s a lot of talent out there that can [come up with] really cool covers for you — without A.I.”
Throughout his decades-long career, Peter Tägtgren has remained a towering and highly prolific figure in the European metal scene. Beyond fronting Hypocrisy and Pain, he notably co-created the industrial metal project Lindemann, releasing the acclaimed albums Skills In Pills and Frau Und Mann. As the owner of the renowned Abyss Studio in Sweden, he has also produced legendary records for heavyweights like Amon Amarth, Amorphis, Celtic Frost, Dark Funeral, Destruction, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Joe Lynn Turner, Marduk, Possessed, Sabaton, and Septicflesh.
