Robot Music and Resonance: Towards a Relational Utilitarianism

Abstract

The emerging development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music scene is challenging our relationship with music. Scholars and engineers are pointing to numerous ethical concerns that need to be addressed with urgency. In this thesis, I inquire whether we can formulate a promising new type of utilitarianism that can be applied as an ethics of AI music. I call this “relational utilitarianism” because on this account, utility is expressed in terms of the quality of the relationship between subjects and ‘the world’ (object). I depart from the position of sociologist Hartmut Rosa: he holds that a successful, good or desirable life is dependent on the quality of one’s relationship to the world. He identifies a resonant relation as the good type of relation. This brings me to the main questions: how and to what extent can resonance provide the metric of utility? And how and to what extent can this relational utilitarianism be applied as an ethics of AI music?