Doubts about AI creation tools

I grew up playing music, and when I got into college I started recording my own tracks. I mainly used LogicPro and Garage Band, both of which had extensive libraries filed with loops. 

Loops are pre-recorded drum beats and instrumental melodies that you can use as a base for your songs. I avoided them like the plague. 

I’m not sure if this is a universal experience, or if this was just me, but I didn’t want to use pre-recorded loops for any of my songs. I wanted to create and record everything myself. If a machine did it, or if someone else did it, I wasn’t interested. 

Here’s what’s ironic: most of those loops sounded way better than the beats I was creating. They were performed with more technical skill. They were recorded with more precision. They were mixed and mastered to sound better. But I wasn’t interested in that. I craved the feeling of experiencing my ideas come out of my head, get put on a recording timeline, and get exported for my ears to hear. 

I wonder about this experience, as we all watch AI creation tools become more popular. Will they ever be fully adopted? Or will we always want to just do things ourselves? To me, AI creation tools are focused on the output and the outcome, instead of the input and the experience. To make heavy use of an AI tool when recording music, writing a book, or creating a film pulls the rug out from under the entire experience. 

It seems to me like most AI creation tools help the layperson “create” in a lane they don’t have the ability to on their own. But do these tools do anything to help those of us who love the process? I’m not so sure. AI owns the “long tail” of creation. But does it serve the whales?