Nick Cave Softens View on AI After Animated Elvis Video

Nick Cave, once a vocal critic of artificial intelligence, has softened his stance on AI as an artistic tool after filmmaker Andrew Dominik used AI to create a new music video for Cave's 1985 song "Tupelo." The video animates archival photos of Elvis Presley, aligning with the song's themes surrounding Elvis' birth in Tupelo, Mississippi. Cave described the AI-animated images as having an "uncanny quality, as if he had been raised from the dead," and called the video a "profound interpretation" and a "touching tribute" both to the song and Elvis Presley. Despite his changed perspective on AI as a creative tool, Cave remains cautious about broader AI implications, particularly concerning language models like ChatGPT and AI music platforms, fearing they may commodify music by bypassing the artistic process. Andrew Dominik, who has collaborated with Cave before, encouraged him to "suspend [his] prejudices" and consider AI simply as another tool. Cave concluded that the ability to change one's mind reflects strength, signaling a nuanced but still cautious acceptance of AI's role in art.