Dr. Dre is sharing his thoughts on AI’s growing role in music.
In an interview with The New York Times alongside his longtime business partner Jimmy Iovine, the legendary rapper and producer called AI a “new tool for creativity” and said he doesn’t see it “as a threat.”
In the piece, published Sunday (Aug. 23), Dre compared resistance to AI with the skepticism that initially greeted drum machines and synthesizers.
“I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago,” Dre told the Times. “They were against AI 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 also acknowledged that he is using AI in his own music, explaining that he views the technology “as a tool to see what it would do with what I just did.”
“I’m embracing it. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with this,” he added.
The N.W.A. alum also pushed back on the idea that AI is inherently a threat to musicians. “I think the only people that see it as a threat are the people who have trouble creating,” the superproducer said.
Iovine expressed a similarly optimistic view of AI’s potential in music. The veteran music executive said there are “a lot of closet AI producers out there,” prompting Dre to reply, “That’s a good way to put it. They’re using it, they just don’t want to admit it.”
“I’m very pro-AI in music creation,” Iovine said. “I don’t see the downside at all. There will be some crappy music. There’s crappy music now. In the studio, when gifted people have AI, they’re going to make better records.”
Dre and Iovine have spent three decades turning new technology into cultural and commercial wins. They backed Eminem, built Beats, and sold the company to Apple for more than $3 billion in 2014. They later helped shape Apple Music. Their argument follows a familiar pattern in music history. Sampling, drum machines, and Auto-Tune each faced accusations of cheating or killing soul. Each eventually became standard equipment in the hands of skilled producers. Dre’s position is that the same process is underway again. The tool does not make the record. The person using it does.
Reactions online split quickly. Some hip-hop fans called the stance out of touch coming from a billionaire producer. Others noted the irony that sampling, the foundation of Dre’s early catalog, once drew the same criticism. The interview itself was broader, covering the pair’s long partnership and their thoughts on collaboration in corporate America, but the AI exchange dominated the coverage that followed.
Dre is 61 and recently appeared on Forbes’ billionaires list for the first time. He has not released a major solo album in years, yet his influence on production standards remains large. By stating openly that he is already testing AI on his own work, he has moved the conversation from abstract debate into the practical space where producers actually operate. Whether the experiment produces anything listeners will care about is still an open question. For now, one of hip-hop’s most respected architects has put his name on the side of the tool.
