The singer-songwriter Grimes has embraced AI-generated music, but she insists that even as music formats change, humans must still play a central role.
“We’re lucky to be making art in an era where there’s such extreme change,” she said. “It’s like most artists don’t get to be tied into a great historical event that they can interpret.”
In 2023, Grimes launched an AI software program called Elf.Tech, which has allowed people to use her vocal likeness as long as she receives a 50% split of the master recording royalties. She said she views the so-called democratization of her voice as a way to feel free in an era where voice cloning is already happening.
More from the 25th annual Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference:
Giant music groups have grappled with how to tackle AI and retaliated in recent years. Major record labels, which included Warner Music Group, sued Suno and startup Udio in 2024 for copyright infringement related to using copyrighted songs to train their models. Warner settled with Suno and Udio in late 2025.
Grimes and Kyncl both said on Monday that as AI expands, having mastery over the written word and the humanities will become more critical than ever. Being able to write something that is truly new is rare, Grimes said.
Kyncl shared advice for young creators to focus on the value of being a storyteller rather than specific technical preparation. Storytelling is a skill that will be beneficial regardless of how the future unfolds, he said.
“If you know how to tell stories, it’s a skill that will be useful no matter what,” he said.
