As an AI and music enthusiast, I've been wondering if generative AI will help us understand what quality is when it comes to music composition, and whether it will help improve it or lead to an increase in the musical equivalent of junk food.
In one scene, Pirsig dismantles his motorcycle and meticulously puts it back together - all the while contemplating the relationship between the machine's functionality and the abstract notion of Quality.
In a direct parallel, our fascination for music and our inquisitive nature has pushed us to break down and analyze music thoroughly. Our tools have been mathematical methods that have evolved to a very high level of detail.
AI could prove to be a new tool - orders of magnitude more detailed - which will help us break down music to a level never before achieved.
The result might eventually be flooding of low quality content.
But maybe we will discover a new form of "Zen" in music creation :)