How Bob Dylan and Yungblud help us find a way to ride the wave in the world of AI

Not content with being the greatest songwriter of all time, predictably unpredictable Bob Dylan has taken to Patreon, peddling historical fanfiction for $5 per month. ‘Lectures from the Grave’ include Aaron Burr – On the Art of Survival and Letters Never Sent, such as one from Mark Twain to Rudolph Valentino.

Dylan embraced social media just as the Musk-motivated mass X-odus was taking place. He posts with grandad-let-loose-on-a-new-iPad energy, and elements of his latest project feel suspiciously fake.

Audio clips are clearly voiced by AI, which suggests other elements may not be entirely original. I ran a passage from a short story called Bull Rider through an online AI checker – the sort teachers use to mark homework nowadays – and it flagged 68.5% as suspected AI generated.

For the Nobel-prizewinning voice of a generation, it’s proof of a-changing times. But from another side, there are echoes of his folk beginnings that saw him borrow existing melodies and phrasing.

Bob Dylan’s Dream from 1963 is a remodelling of British folk song Lady Franklin’s Lament, its melancholy longing for days gone by does feel oddly mature for a then 21-year-old.

With God On Our Side borrows from The Patriot Game, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall from Lord Randall. Dylan’s Girl from the North Country definitely took a detour via Scarborough Fair. And the referenced songs weren’t born fresh one day either; their roots are tangled up in generations of folklore and myth.

Read more:

• If Bob Dylan tells us it’s time for joy, we’d better pay attention
• Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom – review
• ‘I’ll never forget it’: Guest editor Yungblud reveals how a Big Issue seller turned his life around

The difference between composition and AI generation is in the I. Instead of hollow regurgitation there’s thoughtful interpretation shaped by someone’s life, experience, soul. Dylan – and all artists – build on pre-existing foundations and create collaborations over time and tradition.

The tension between inheritance and invention continues today. One of the most vibrant and vital voices of this generation is Yungblud and in this week’s Big Issue he outlines his ambition to rescue rock – not forgetting roll.

Creative director of Yungblud’s burgeoning empire, Beautifully Romanticised Accidentally Traumatized, Elle Shoel, tells us how she coined the term ‘neo-heritage’. A fusion of something new and something old that creates something unique, she explains. 

“Everything’s a reference. There are no original ideas any more, but that’s the joy of it.”

The end of originality is a nightmarish vision for a journalist, but instead of raging against the AI machine, Elle and Yungblud propose a positive alternative: acknowledge the rising tide and find a way to ride the wave. Bring others along on the journey. Artists have a more important role to play than ever, helping us navigate the changes we’re going through. 

Yungblud is more than a singer, he leads a community of millions from around the world, harnessing music to create a movement, and that’s where meaning lies. Ideas don’t have to be original. The way they connect to other ideas and connect us to each other is what keeps them alive. 

I think Bob Dylan knows that too, whether or not he himself is leaning on a little artifice of his own. 

Steven MacKenzie is editor of Big Issue. Read more of his writing here. 

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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