The Steely Dan AI smorgasbord
Listen to the good, bad, and ugly of Dan-related restorations, deepfakes, and AI-generated songs.
In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about how artificial intelligence has come to permeate the Daniverse. AI-powered technologies, I discovered, are being applied in ways both fascinating and appalling: restorers leaning on cutting-edge software to clean up outtakes, humorists melding Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald voice clones with 1990s hip-hop tracks, machine-learning programs churning out “new” Steely Dan songs with the click of a few keystrokes.
I spent a year collecting restorations, deepfakes, and AI-generated songs. Throughout the story, I embedded a handful of examples, but I soon understood that readers wanted to hear more of what I turned up in obscure pockets of the internet. That’s why below I’ve essentially spilled out the contents of my research folder for your edification, amusement, and masochistic pleasure.