Empire of the Sun's Luke Steele describes AI as a smart guitar pedal

Empire of the Sun frontman Luke Steele says he uses AI in his music and views it as another instrument for artists who learn to control it. Speaking to iHeartRadio Canada around the band's Osheaga appearance, he compared the technology to a highly capable guitar pedal.

That is a clear creative position, but not yet a documented production workflow. Steele did not name the software, identify a released track that contains generated material or explain whether AI was used for sound design, composition, lyrics, vocals or another part of the process.

The distinction matters because public arguments often place all artist use into one category. A musician exploring textures or ideas inside a larger human performance is making a different creative and rights decision from publishing a finished prompt-to-song output.

Disclosure can be specific without becoming a tutorial

Artists do not need to reveal every production technique. But a useful credit can still state the affected component and the role of the person directing the system.

Until those details are available, Steele's comments are best read as an artist's position on AI rather than evidence about how a particular Empire of the Sun recording was made.