“AI is better than some producers,” says Slipknot’s Clown

The proliferation of artificial intelligence is one of the most discussed and controversial topics of 2025, not just in music. Shawn “Clown” Crahan of Slipknot he is one of the few elite heavy metal musicians to stand up for evolving technology.

In a new interview with “The Escapist” magazine, the nu metal band’s co-founder and percussionist calls AI “a pocket professor who just wants to do what I ask. I’m using AI 190 percent,” says Crahan, who has been using it “all my life,” as the latest in a series of tools developed over the years to help musicians. Clown then says he has “thousands and thousands” of poems written since he was young that, thanks to artificial intelligence, he can turn into something different without compromising his vision: “Here are my words. Don’t change them. Don’t alter them. But show me different ways to sing them.”

What’s the difference between me taking out my pocket producer… or me trying to hire a big name producer who might not even work with me, who could potentially cost me $150,000, and who will only give me one or two chances? I won’t mention names!

The use of artificial intelligence as a creative tool he was laughed at by many in recent years. Content generation programs such as Suno and ElevenLabs have been criticized for using copyrighted music to generate new songs from user suggestions, without any financial compensation to the artists they were “inspired by”.

Some users have used the technology to create fictitious bands and amass huge listener bases without ever picking up an instrument. During the summer, The Velvet Sundown – a psychedelic rock band entirely generated by artificial intelligence – had more than 320,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.