Without Dolly Parton, There’s No AI Take On “I Will Always Love You”

Singer/actress Whitney Houston w. her mom Cissy. (Photo by Robin Platzer/Getty Images)

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“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the publishing. These are my songs – they’re like my children. And I expect them to support me when I’m old!” Most reading this already know who uttered those words, particularly after August 25^th of last month.

In the aftermath of Dolly Parton’s death, Parton’s refusal of Colonel Tom Parker’s demand that she give up half of the music publishing rights to “I Will Always Love You” is a story that made it into seemingly every Parton obituary, and countless columns and reports adjacent to news of Parton’s death. Parton indicated that she cried all night over her decision. Really, who refuses Elvis Presley’s request to sing their song?

So, what does this musical story have to do with artificial intelligence (AI)? Realistically nothing, and everything.

The nothing part is basic. AI isn’t a musical composer any more than it’s a writer of poems, novels, op-eds, term papers, movie scripts, or song. Instead, AI is a brilliant, life-and-living standard enhancing aggregation of knowledge from which poems, novels, op-eds, term papers, movie scripts, and songs can result.

It’s worth keeping in mind with “I Will Always Love You” top of mind. What if AI had existed in the early 1970s? More specifically, could Colonel Parker have asked an AI to write for Elvis what became “I Will Always Love You”? Not a chance.

AI can create based on what already exists, or what’s already been published, not what is or isn’t inside our heads. Which speaks to the beauty of metaphysical wealth over wealth of the earth like, for instance, oil.

Is it any wonder that the biggest oil companies in the world are partnerships of government and the private sector? It shouldn’t be. Oil is of the earth. It can be taken. What’s in our mind is ours.

Said another way, Parton had to put pen to paper, had to sing countless tunes coursing through her unique head, and had to fail many more times for “I Will Always Love You” to become a much-coveted song. A song that The King wanted to record.

Which speaks to the everything aspect of AI and music. Without the metaphysical aspect of music, there’s no AI version, and certainly no music to rank.

From here, an obvious can be stated. Much as Parker, Elvis, and Parton wanted The King to record “I Will Always Love You,” Elvis couldn’t take Parton’s mind.

Which should be remembered as the debate about how Billboard should chart AI-generated music continues. Again, AI creates nothing without music that already exists. If Elvis couldn’t take Parton’s genius to his own profit, can computers? But that’s not even the biggest question.

Again, how to chart what’s an aggregation of what’s already charted, or not? It reads as a look to the past, a taking, and realistically both. Also, to chart what already existed reads as double counting.

Most of all, it’s not music. Music, like all wealth, must be created. Parton had to write and compose “I Will Always Love You.” Better yet, human genius was required to turn Parton’s creation into one of the world’s most beloved songs. See the late Whitney Houston.

When Houston recorded Parton’s classic in 1992, her mother Cissy leaned over to producer David Foster and told him, “You’re witnessing greatness right now, I hope you know that.” Yes, precisely. Standing on Parton’s shoulders, Houston turned great into spectacular.

Brilliant as AI-generated music is or might be, it stands on the shoulders of human genius, including Parton’s and Houston’s. Without them, it’s nothing. How to chart nothing?