*The views expressed in this article are Redito's own and do not represent those of his employer.
The conversation around AI in music is missing the most important element: human intention. It’s easy to get distracted by the novelty of AI-generated output and forget that these systems have no agency of their own. Creativity begins with a human hearing something in their head and ends with a human judging the final product. Even with the rise of powerful one-click generators, the artist is still the one prompting, curating, and deciding what has value. The artist’s role isn’t being replaced—it’s becoming that of a director, collaborator, and the ultimate arbiter of taste.
That’s the perspective of Mark Redito,* an AI Prompt Engineer with a background as a music artist, producer, and community builder in creative technology. His point of view is forged by a combination of technical experience at companies like xAI and a creative music career featured on Netflix and in outlets like Pitchfork and Fader.
He believes that human agency is the engine of AI creativity, from the initial spark of an idea to the final decision to release the music. "I think what's missing in the conversation is that people forget creativity involves human intention and agency. It starts with the intent to describe a sound you're hearing in your head, and it ends with you as the judge of the final output. That agency exists on both ends of the process."
- Embracing the fuzz: Instead of fighting the machine's inherent unpredictability, Redito suggests artists can reframe it as a core creative feature. He views the nondeterministic “black box” nature of AI as a source of productive randomness, similar to how Brian Eno used chance in his compositions with Oblique Strategies. "Because these AI systems are truly black boxes, artists can leverage their inherent randomness and fuzziness as a creative feature. Artists before us embraced imperfections and the abstract, and I think we can view these tools in that same way."
- An iterative riff: By embracing the machine's "fuzziness" and imperfections as a source of unexpected inspiration, the AI can be recast as a creative partner rather than a disobedient tool. "I treat these systems like a collaborator in a band. You translate an idea to them, they play a riff back, and you guide them with corrective feedback. The interaction is iterative and collaborative, and that's my mindset."
This reframing elevates the artist into that of an “AI orchestrator.” A new form of creativity is emerging where artists design intricate technical workflows to chain models and functions together, conducting the AI to achieve a specific artistic vision. At the far end of this spectrum, Redito points to the "algorave" movement, where performers use a code editor as a live instrument, writing and running code that generates music in real time. "I was impressed by how complex their workflows are. They use generators, but the prompt goes through custom code to the model, the model outputs something, it's processed by another array of functions, and then it feeds back to the model again. To me, that sort of orchestration is creative. We just don't hear those stories enough."
For AI to become a staple in the professional toolkit, however, Redito believes it has to meet artists where they already work: inside the DAW. He sees this as a natural evolution, comparing AI to the DAW plugins that enabled him and a generation of producers to create music without formal training. The industry is already responding, with major platforms like Ableton and Apple's Logic Pro building in AI-powered features.
- Just browsing: But that doesn't mean the pros get all the tools. Redito believes a healthy ecosystem depends just as much on accessible, browser-based tools, which will remain vital for fostering the next generation of creators within their established environments. "Browser-based tools aren't going away; there's a real opportunity there. A fully working, AI-assisted DAW in the browser will open a lot of doors for the next generation of musicians."
That idea leads to what may be the most compelling use of human agency: intentionally subverting tools. As AI features become standardized, a key trait of the most innovative artists will be their willingness to push the technology in new, unconventional directions. "Once AI is incorporated into a product, it becomes standardized. But some artists don't want that; they want to break it. Artists already know how to break things inside the DAW, so having models available in the DAW with settings you could actually subvert would be fantastic."