Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine see artificial intelligence as a creative tool, not a threat to music. In an interview published by The New York Times, the hip-hop producer and former record executive said they are open to using AI in the studio and pushed back on industry resistance to the technology.
Dre compared the current skepticism around AI to the early reception of drum machines and synthesizers. "I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago," Dre said. "They were against AI and I'm like, 'OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out.' Or synthesisers, right? It's a new tool for creativity. Some people are afraid of learning new things."
AI as a production tool
Dre said he is open to using AI "as a tool to see what it would do with what I just did." Iovine, who backed Dre's solo albums through Interscope in the early 1990s and later co-founded Beats By Dre with him, said many producers are already working with the technology.
"So is Timbaland - another brilliant producer. By the way, there's a lot of closet AI producers out there," Iovine said. Dre replied, "That's a good way to put it. They're using it."
Iovine was blunt about the potential upside. "I'm very pro-AI in music creation. I don't see the downside at all. There will be some crappy music. There's crappy music now. In the studio, when gifted, people have AI, they're going to make better records."
For working creatives, the pair's stance signals a practical shift: AI tools are becoming standard studio equipment, not experimental novelties. Training options like AI for Vocal Artists & Songwriters reflect that reality, and the broader AI for Creatives category covers similar ground for other disciplines.
Industry response
Their comments arrive as music industry organizations take a more cautious approach. In July, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and other groups announced a voluntary track-labelling program that distinguishes between "AI-Generated" and "AI-Assisted" recordings.
Asked what he most recently asked an AI chatbot, Dre's answer was personal, not musical: "How do you put on muscle and lose fat at the same time? That's it."
Why this matters for creatives
The debate over AI in music is often framed as a battle between preservation and progress. Dre and Iovine offer a third position: treat AI as another instrument. For artists, songwriters, and producers, that means the practical question is not whether to use AI, but how to use it without losing the human judgment that makes a record work. The musicians who learn the tool now - while the industry is still defining the rules - will have the widest range of options when the standards settle.
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