Dr. Dre’s Stance on A.I. Draws Criticism: “It’s a new tool”
The superproducer says creative people should embrace the controversial technology.
Dr. Dre speaks onstage during the 2025 BET Awards at Peacock Theater on June 09, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET.
Dr. Dre offered his take on the emergence of A.I. and the controversy surrounding the technology. In an interview with The New York Times, the legendary producer blasted critics of artificial intelligence, saying that he feels the truly creative will simply see it as a tool.
“I think the only people that see it as a threat are the people who have trouble creating,” Dr. Dre said in the interview, which was alongside Jimmy Iovine.
“I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago,” Dre said. “They were against A.I. and I’m like, ‘OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out.’ Or synthesizers, right? It’s a new tool for creativity. Some people are afraid of learning new things.”
Dre revealed that he’s using A.I. tech in music.
“[It’s] a tool to see what it would do with what I just did.” Iovine added, “So is Timbaland — another brilliant producer. By the way, there’s a lot of closet AI producers out there.”
Dre’s words echo similar sentiments from producers like Timbaland and Rick Rubin. But many blasted the hitmaker for supporting A.I.
“It’s the exact same script,” wrote Audiomack co-founder Brian “Z” Zisook on X. “They’re all reading from the EXACT SAME SCRIPT.”
And Dre’s fellow West Coast superproducer DJ Quik had the opposite take. In an interview with The Shade Room, Quik criticized the use of A.I. to make music.
“It’s a total violation of culture. It’s appropriation,” Quik said. “You can’t recreate somebody that’s still here doing what they do.”
You can see some fan reactions to Dr. Dre’s comments below:
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