Forrest Frank Sounds Alarm on AI Christian Music as AI-Made Album Tops iTunes

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Forrest Frank is sounding the alarm about AI-generated music in the Christian genre as an artificial-intelligence album surges up the charts, even topping releases from well-established singers.

The album by an AI artist known as Solomon Ray is climbing both the Billboard and iTunes charts, delivering a soulful, gospel-centric sound that feels straight out of a big-budget Nashville studio. But none of it was created by humans. The guitars, the drums, the vocals, and even the lyrics were generated entirely by AI.

An Instagram page for the artist describes the music as an “AI Voice” with “Mississippi Soul.” The page even features images of a bearded, smiling young artist – but those photos appear to be AI-generated as well.

“The number one album right now for Christian music on iTunes – and the number two top singles over Elevation, Brandon Lake, whoever – is AI,” Frank said in an Instagram video, referencing the Solomon Ray album Faithful Soul and the singles Find Your Rest and Goodbye Temptation.

“And I hate to even bring attention to this, but I want to just let you guys know this is out there – and I think it's important that we just pause a little bit and kind of ask the questions of like, ‘Is it something that we want?

“At minimum, AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it, so I think that's really weird to be opening up your spirit to something that has no Spirit,” Frank added.

Frank urged Christians to thoughtfully weigh the pros and cons of AI music.

“So what are we doing about this? Are we rejecting this? Are we championing this? I personally will not be listening to this,” Frank asserted. “I already don't listen to secular music, and I'm sure not gonna be listening to AI Christian music.”

Other Christian artists chimed in, too.

“It’s difficult to envision a future where we look back and think creating AI was a net positive for our world,” Wickham wrote in a comment on Frank’s post. “At most it should be a tool for humans, not a replacement for them.”

Colton Dixon said he’s still wrestling with the subject.

“Can it be a tool to speed up a rather long, tedious process – yes. But can it also be used [as] a crutch instead of finding inspiration and direction from [the] Holy Spirit – also yes. Regardless – I’m believing God will be magnified,” Dixon wrote.

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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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