Generative AI has disrupted everyday life, moving tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot from the niche to the mainstream. This shift has reached the arts, and classical music is no exception, with AI slowly integrating itself into the art form.
Many who used to attend Chennai’s December Season, one of the world’s largest music festivals, planned their itinerary with physical aids such as reckoners that listed all the concerts of the season. Today, Generative AI has moved beyond digital listing to become a personalised logistics assistant. AI tools dynamically display artiste schedules, list events by venue, and simplify the complex task of Sabha hopping. By inputting desired artistes, free time, and geographical constraints such as “Alwarpet area only”, a tool such as Gemini can automate and optimise an entire Season itinerary. Some AI tools even claim to make smart recommendations learning the user’s preferences such as favourite ragas, composers and artistes, and offer concert suggestions aligning with their artistic taste.
There are multi-genre events taking place from November to January, but a limited number of audiences who choose performances that resonate most with them. In this competitive environment, creative social media advertising becomes crucial. AI helps by instantly generating eye-catching posters, visuals and appealing content, allowing artistes to cut through the noise and create talking points for their performances.
Attending kutcheris during the Margazhi Season is more than a solitary pursuit; it is a social phenomenon shaping daily life. Sabha premises become hubs where friends, family, and connoisseurs gather over music and the famed on-site canteens. AI tools now go beyond scheduling, factoring in traffic, parking, wheelchair access and good canteens. The canteen culture has become so central — and health concerns so strong — that concert attendees may ask AI to analyse menus for gluten-free, low-fat or high-protein options.
Although phone use during performances is often criticised, AI now makes it possible to deepen appreciation of visual arts such as Bharatanatyam. It can provide instant information about the song being performed, offer translations and meanings for a complex Telugu padam to better comprehend the abhinaya, or give short act-by-act summaries of a Koodiyattam play based on a 2,000-year-old Sanskrit text, helping audiences understand the story and the nuances of the theatre form.
When questioned about its utility, ChatGPT lists over 15 ways in which it assists Carnatic musicians, feasibly in linguistic and organisational tasks like sahitya splitting, word breakdowns, prosody checks and translation. Advanced AI could also help teachers by generating notations as it hears them sing, like how Copilot summarises meeting notes. AI can construct and manage concert lists for multi-city tours or themed repertoires, ensuring raga/tala diversity, meeting linguistic and rhythmic requirements, and optimising performance duration. Its bolder claims extend to musical creativity, offering raga analysis, melodic phrase generation and guidance for alapana and niraval.
When tasked with composing five alapana phrases spanning the Shadjam and Panchamam in Mayamalavagowla, AI tools churn out melodic blueprints. Not content with mere notes, they append hyper-academic justifications such as “a rakti-style approach, rich in emotional resonance” or “a forceful yet subtle glide into ‘Pa’ and back, prioritising rhythmic complexity”. Whether these mechanically assembled sequences could be used in a performance or how pleasing an AI-constructed alapana might sound remains speculative. The real peril begins when querying AI about subtleties of phrase-based ragas such as Mukhari or Kedaragowla. Be warned: the audacity of the resulting algorithmic gibberish can be alarming. It is advisable to approach these inquiries with restraint — your sanity and, potentially, your premium subscription depend on it. All this raises one terrifying question — when a student is assigned a manodharma exercise by their guru, will the next generation open ChatGPT instead of their own minds?
AI tools often demonstrate a lack of cultural literacy regarding performance conventions. They suggest using AI for “Instant sahitya or raga recall during performance”, ignoring that using a device in a concert is frowned upon by many in the classical world. AI claims it can supply a forgotten line or sangati if queried backstage or during a break, failing to grasp that a traditional Carnatic concert is a continuous flow without intermissions or mid-set huddles. Its most absurd claim involves post-performance analysis on technical flaws, detailing “shruti drift points, speed accuracy and places where the alapana lacked contrast”. AI compares this data-driven assessment to having a personal guru-analyst, missing the nuance of artistic mentorship. Usage of AI for laya also raises concerns, as claims range from constructing korvais, muktayis and kalpanaswara patterns to tracking angas and detecting eduppus in real time. Mridangam players should be prepared for shocking artificially generated outcomes, as ChatGPT claims it can stylistically model sollus in the style of Palghat Mani Iyer and Palani Subramania Pillai.
Classical musicians worldwide have criticised AI, asserting that no algorithm can truly replace the depth, intuition and emotion of a human artiste. Their skepticism is reinforced by the fact that many AI tools still have limitations and include disclaimers warning of inaccuracies or fabricated content. However, as technology advances, targeted improvements in AI models that handle artistic nuance and cultural context could reduce this criticism. If AI evolves to reliably meet the intricate demands of Indian classical music, producing accurate and aesthetically pleasing output, the gap between a human creator and a machine assistant may gradually narrow.
The conversation around AI forces us to confront the definition of tradition. Tradition is not a static artefact; it is a dynamic stream of knowledge that incorporates new methodologies. Classical music, as an evolving heritage, cannot afford to sideline technological advancement. Musicians must move past skepticism to observe, understand, and apply AI, not as a replacement for human mastery but as a modern instrument for practice, planning and cultural propagation.
Published – December 10, 2025 03:20 pm IST
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