In a recent conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience with actress Katee Sackhoff, an unexpected debate about artificial intelligence and music sparked a telling moment about where our technological future might be heading.
When discussing the rise of AI-generated content, Rogan made a provocative statement that encapsulates both the promise and peril of our automated future. He bluntly states: “If you have these anime characters that represent the music and then all a sudden you see a human doing it. You’re like, ‘Huh? Probably needs to be better if AI made the music.'”
The comment arose during a discussion about K-pop Demon Hunter, an anime series with infectious music that has captivated audiences worldwide, including Sackhoff’s young daughter. As Sackhoff expressed her desire to attend a live concert featuring the real musicians behind the animated characters, Rogan casually dropped his bombshell prediction about AI’s superiority in music creation.
Sackhoff’s immediate reaction was: “Stop it. It will never be better if AI makes the music. You just broke my soul, Joe.”
But Rogan wasn’t simply being provocative. He said: “AI is making some really good music.”
He backed up his claim with examples, playing AI-generated covers that reimagine hip-hop classics in completely different genres. A 1950s soul version of 50 Cent’s “What Up Gangster” particularly impressed both host and guest, demonstrating AI’s ability to seamlessly blend disparate musical styles in ways human artists might never attempt.
The technical proficiency was undeniable, perfect flow, no breathing breaks, and flawless execution that some human performers might struggle to match.
Yet this technological marvel raises profound questions about creativity, artistry, and human value. Sackhoff articulated the fundamental problem: AI learns from existing human art, essentially “stealing” from artists who created the original work. It’s a valid concern that echoes throughout creative industries as AI capabilities expand exponentially.
Rogan, however, drew an interesting parallel to the evolution of Battlestar Galactica itself—the show that made Sackhoff famous. The reimagined series took characters and concepts from the original 1970s show and transformed them into something many consider superior. In a sense, that’s what AI does: it takes existing elements and recombines them in novel ways. The difference, of course, is that human creators were compensated and credited for their reimagining, while AI operates in a legal and ethical gray zone.
The conversation revealed a central tension in our technological age. On one hand, AI can create objectively impressive music that moves people emotionally. Rogan admitted that even knowing it’s AI-generated doesn’t diminish his enjoyment.
On the other hand, there’s something irreplaceable about human creativity—the struggle, the imperfection, the lived experience that informs art. As Sackhoff pointed out, live performance remains AI’s insurmountable barrier. The tangible experience of being in a crowd, feeling collective energy, and witnessing human skill in real-time cannot be replicated by algorithms.
Perhaps the most telling moment came when Sackhoff described how she creates bedtime stories with her daughter through their shared reactions and improvisation. An AI can generate a perfectly structured children’s story in seconds, but it cannot replicate the bond formed through creative collaboration between parent and child. That human element represents what we stand to lose if we outsource creativity entirely to machines.