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A St. John’s musician is speaking out about the use of AI-generated content in the arts.
Rachel Cousins said she’s seen her peers using artificial intelligence for their cover art, posters and even in making music.
“AI is used for everything that they’re doing when it comes to making music and, and making the visuals behind it,” Cousins told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.
She said she worries about the impact on local artists and on human connection to art and creation.
“Art is very human to me, and it always has been. I think that art comes with emotion and experience,” she said.
“What a shame to have a machine try and spit anything out at me that I’ve felt and it hasn’t.”
Cousins said she understands why musicians would choose to use AI images for posters to promote gigs, adding that it can be expensive otherwise. But by paying for the design, she said, the money goes to other local artists.
She’s advocating for artists to find solutions outside of AI.
“There’s so many brilliant artists who would absolutely die for the opportunity to make a poster for somebody for 50 bucks,” she said.
Another solution? Doing it yourself, or with friends, she said.
“I don’t care if they’re bad. I just want them to be real and human,” said Cousins.
Beyond visual elements, Cousins said she’s also seen an uptick in music partially or fully created by AI.
She points to the issue on a global scale.
“There’s artists on Spotify who are not real,” she said.
She points to Sienna Rose, an artist whose music was first released on Spotify in 2025 and has 3.8 million monthly listeners across the world. Outlets like BBC and Rolling Stone say Rose and her music are more than likely AI generated.
“I think it’s a shame that there are people listening to AI and maybe even crying to an AI song,” she said. “They’re not real. They’ve never felt those emotions before.”
Locally, Cousins said it’s especially important for artists in Newfoundland and Labrador to preserve human-made art and the community that surrounds it.
“People across Canada notice that special community that we have here. And I don’t want to lose that,” she said.
“I think we’re kind of expected to, as a people, fall into this AI hole right now. And I’m just hoping that people kind of start questioning more what they can do differently.”
Cousins released her first EP in 2017 and has since released three albums. She is nominated in three categories at this year’s East Coast Music Awards.
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