Empire Of The Sun's Luke Steele Defends Using AI to Make Music: "It Will Make Unstoppable Artists"
Empire Of The Sun frontman Luke Steele openly admitted to using AI in his music creation during an interview with iHeartRadio Canada, following the band's performance at Montreal's Osheaga Festival on Friday, August 1, 2026. The comments have sparked wider discussion about AI's growing role in music production.
What Steele actually said
Asked directly whether he uses AI, Steele answered simply, "Of course." The interviewer then raised the names of several artists who have expressed reservations about AI in music — Lorde, Mac DeMarco, SZA, and producer Jack Antonoff, who has publicly criticized AI-assisted music-making.
Steele described AI as being "like a really smart guitar pedal" — just another tool for musicians to use. He had a pointed warning for skeptics, as reported by Consequence: artists who learn to use AI effectively will become "unstoppable," while those who reject it should "be careful, because it's going to eat you up like a monster in the night." When asked about the environmental impact of AI, Steele reportedly laughed off the question.
Part of a bigger industry reckoning
Steele's comments land amid an intensifying global debate over AI in music. Boy George admitted last week to using AI to help write a new song, which Bandcamp subsequently removed for violating its acceptable use policy. On the streaming side, Deezer revealed last month that AI-generated tracks now account for more than 50% of daily uploads to its platform, while TIDAL announced in June that it will not pay royalties on music determined to be fully AI-generated.
In the UK, the government dropped in March a proposal that would have let AI companies use copyrighted material without authorization — a plan artists including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Dua Lipa, and Elton John had jointly campaigned against. Separately, Apple Music is reportedly planning to label AI-generated tracks for listeners, while one study found that 97% of people cannot reliably distinguish AI-made music from human-made music.
Where Empire Of The Sun fits in
The band has kept a packed schedule this year: a Lollapalooza 2026 set on Wednesday, July 30, followed by Osheaga on Friday, August 1, after a UK/European run that included a June date at London's Alexandra Palace. Their fourth album, Ask That God, came out in 2024 and includes the singles "Changes" and "Music On The Radio."