Mr. Mbagwu opens this game on the SmartBoard. The class listens to clips and votes: AI or Human?
sightengine.com/ai-or-not-music — plays real clips, class guesses together
After each clip:
1. My guess: AI or Human?
2. What made me guess that? (What did I hear that gave it away?)
3. Was I right?
97% of listeners can’t tell the difference. Can YOU beat the odds?
Connection to Yesterday: Yesterday you learned mixing takes dozens of careful decisions. Can a machine make those same judgments?
AI analyzes patterns in millions of existing songs — chord progressions, drum patterns, melodies, lyrics — then generates new audio in seconds.
Tools: Suno, Udio — type a prompt, get a full song in 30 seconds.
Major labels sued Suno and Udio for copyright infringement in 2024.
US Copyright Office: AI-only works cannot be copyrighted — no human author, no protection.
60% of musicians already use some form of AI in their workflow.
DOK 2: How is AI different from sampling?
Efficiency: A full song in 30 seconds vs. weeks of production.
Accessibility: Anyone can create music without instruments or training.
New sounds: AI generates combinations humans would never think of.
No intent: AI doesn’t mean what it creates — no emotion, no lived experience.
Steals from artists: Trained on music without permission or payment.
Devalues craft: Years of practice reduced to a text prompt.
AI as tool, human as curator. Use AI for inspiration or rough drafts, but the human decides what stays, what goes, what matters.
Which side are you on? Think about YOUR experience as a producer this unit. Could AI have made your beat? Would it have the same meaning?
Play 3 more rounds from the AI or Not game. After each round, scholars answer on their worksheet:
After the game, play these human-produced clips. Ask: “Could AI make THIS?”
1. Pharrell — “Happy” (0:00–0:30)
▶ Play on YouTube
2. Kendrick Lamar — “Alright” (1:00–1:30)
▶ Play on YouTube
3. Missy Elliott — “Get Ur Freak On” (0:30–1:00)
▶ Play on YouTube
Move to your corner:
Strongly Agree • Agree • Disagree • Strongly Disagree
“AI should be allowed to create and sell music just like human artists.”
Share 1–2 arguments from your corner. Listen to opposing corners. You may switch corners if convinced.
Audio created by artificial intelligence algorithms that learned from millions of existing songs. Produced in seconds without human performance.
Legal ownership of creative work. The US Copyright Office says AI-only works cannot be copyrighted because there is no human author.
A human selecting, editing, and refining AI output. The “middle ground” — AI generates, humans decide what’s worth keeping.
AI music generation platforms that create full songs from text prompts. Both were sued by major labels in 2024 for training on copyrighted music.
Name TWO specific facts you learned today about AI in music. Each must be different.
1 pt = Fact 1 is specific + accurate • 1 pt = Fact 2 is different + specific
Could AI have made your Soundtrap beat? Circle YES / NO / PARTIALLY. Name ONE thing you did that AI can’t. Explain why.
1 pt = Position circled • 1 pt = Names specific human decision • 1 pt = Explains why AI can’t