I hate that I don’t hate this song made with Suno

我讨厌我竟然不讨厌这首用 Suno 创作的歌

1010Benja’s “Semiramis’ Dream” shows AI can be more than a slop engine in the right hands. 1010Benja 的《Semiramis’ Dream》证明了在合适的人手中，人工智能不仅仅是一个只会产出垃圾内容的引擎。

I would never go so far as to say there’s no place for AI in music (I’m a fan of Holly Herndon, after all). But I generally find music made with generative AI to be offensively boring, especially the outputs of Suno. So I’m having a bit of a tough time processing the fact that I actually quite enjoy 1010Benja’s “Semiramis’ Dream.” 我绝不会说音乐界没有人工智能的容身之地（毕竟我是 Holly Herndon 的粉丝）。但我通常认为由生成式 AI 创作的音乐令人反感地无聊，尤其是 Suno 的产出。因此，我很难接受这样一个事实：我竟然相当喜欢 1010Benja 的《Semiramis’ Dream》。

Benja has been unapologetic about his use of generative AI on his latest EP, Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose… The other three tracks can’t quite hold a candle to what you find on 2024’s Ten Total. But the opener “Semiramis’ Dream” is infectious. It explodes out of the speakers with a jungle beat and Benja’s incredible, obviously human voice front and center. Benja 对他在最新 EP《Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose…》中使用生成式 AI 的行为毫不避讳。虽然另外三首曲目无法与他 2024 年的《Ten Total》相提并论，但开篇曲《Semiramis’ Dream》却极具感染力。它伴随着丛林节奏从音箱中爆发出来，Benja 那令人惊叹且显然属于人类的嗓音占据了核心位置。

You’d be forgiven for not immediately realizing that the song is the product of Suno. It lacks many of the dead giveaways. Even the most obviously AI part of the song — the choir of backup vocalists — is easily camouflaged amidst the hyperpop-influenced rapid-fire chops. Heavily processed and artificial-sounding vocals are a staple of many modern pop genres and, by leaning into that uncanniness, Benja is able to mask their origins. 如果你没有立刻意识到这首歌是 Suno 的产物，那完全可以原谅。它缺乏许多明显的 AI 特征。即使是歌中最明显的 AI 部分——伴唱合唱团——也能轻易地隐藏在受 Hyperpop 影响的快速切片中。经过深度处理和带有合成感的嗓音是许多现代流行音乐流派的标配，通过利用这种怪异感，Benja 成功掩盖了它们的来源。

But Benja isn’t hiding. He told Hearing Things in an interview: “My friend Patrick Holder did the beat. I recorded the vocals. Then we fed Suno the elements, settled on something, brought it out, edited it on Ableton, and then put it back into Suno. So when you look in Deezer, it marks the song as AI-generated. We’re not hiding it. We don’t feel any shame about it.” 但 Benja 并没有隐藏。他在接受《Hearing Things》采访时表示：“我的朋友 Patrick Holder 制作了节拍，我录制了人声。然后我们将这些元素输入 Suno，确定了一些东西，导出并在 Ableton 中进行编辑，然后再放回 Suno。所以当你在 Deezer 上查看时，它会标记这首歌为 AI 生成。我们没有隐瞒，对此也不感到羞耻。”

Benja’s process certainly separates it from the rest of the Suno slop out there. He wrote the lyrics, sang the vocals, and worked with collaborators to perform the music. Then fed that into Suno, took what the AI spit out, brought it into Ableton, edited it, added more layers, fed that back into Suno… rinse repeat ad nauseam. Benja estimates he did this a few hundred times for “Semiramis’ Dream.” Benja 的创作过程确实将其与市面上其他 Suno 产出的垃圾内容区分开来。他撰写歌词、演唱人声，并与合作者共同演奏音乐。然后将其输入 Suno，获取 AI 的输出，带入 Ableton 进行编辑、增加层次，再反馈给 Suno……如此反复，不厌其烦。Benja 估计他为《Semiramis’ Dream》重复了这个过程几百次。

While Benja professes to be agnostic about the tools he uses, he is under no illusion that using generative AI doesn’t come with ethical baggage. He acknowledges the damage it’s doing to the planet, but somewhat nihilistically says we can’t stop greedy corporations or put the AI genie back in the bottle: “The good guy doesn’t win this one,” he says. 虽然 Benja 声称他对所使用的工具持中立态度，但他并不认为使用生成式 AI 没有道德包袱。他承认这对地球造成的损害，但又有些虚无主义地表示，我们无法阻止贪婪的企业，也无法将 AI 这个魔鬼重新关回瓶子里：“好人在这场博弈中赢不了，”他说。

“The only reason I’m using gen at all is because my visions are currently far beyond my means. People have been asking me, ‘Did you use gen AI for this EP?’ I’m like, [sarcastically] ‘No, I hired a professional children’s choir.’ What are we talking about? I haven’t paid rent last month, and I won’t pay rent this month. I don’t know where the fuck I’m gonna be.” “我使用生成式 AI 的唯一原因，是因为我的愿景目前远远超出了我的经济能力。人们一直问我：‘你这张 EP 用了生成式 AI 吗？’ 我会（讽刺地）回答：‘没有，我雇了一个专业的童声合唱团。’ 我们在谈论什么呢？我上个月没交房租，这个月也交不起。我根本不知道自己未来会怎样。”

It’s hard not to empathize with Benja. Despite seeming to be on the verge of a breakout and earning a coveted Best New Music from Pitchfork for Ten Total, he’s a struggling artist who has endured periods of homelessness. 很难不对 Benja 产生共鸣。尽管他似乎正处于成名边缘，并凭借《Ten Total》获得了 Pitchfork 梦寐以求的“最佳新音乐”评价，但他仍是一位经历过无家可归、在困境中挣扎的艺术家。

Still, it’s also worth acknowledging that there is little on “Semiramis’s Dream” sonically that he couldn’t have achieved without AI. Sure, he couldn’t hire a children’s choir, but it’s not like the AI one found throughout the Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose… is particularly convincing. A similar effect could be accomplished with some layered performances and smart YouTube vocal processing. 不过，值得承认的是，《Semiramis’ Dream》在声音上并没有什么他无法在不使用 AI 的情况下实现的东西。当然，他确实雇不起童声合唱团，但《Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose…》中出现的 AI 合唱团听起来也并不特别令人信服。通过一些分层录音和巧妙的人声处理，完全可以达到类似的效果。

1010Benja hasn’t converted me — I still remain deeply skeptical of AI art. But he has proven that, in the right hands, Suno doesn’t have to be a slop engine. 1010Benja 并没有改变我的立场——我依然对 AI 艺术持深度怀疑态度。但他证明了，在合适的人手中，Suno 未必非得是一个产出垃圾的引擎。