Fender CEO's AI music comments draw backlash amid guitar community controversy

Fender CEO Edward "Bud" Cole gave an interview to T3 in May to mark the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster, in which he discussed the role of artificial intelligence in music. The comments have since resurfaced online, adding to the company's ongoing public relations trouble. Fender recently sent cease-and-desist letters to builders, claiming copyright protection over the Stratocaster body shape, which angered many guitar players. Some well-known guitar YouTubers have said they will stop buying Fender products.

In the interview, Cole argued that AI is nothing new in music. He described cover songs as a form of "analog AI," because players who have not yet developed songwriting skills can perform music written by their favorite artists. He also said bandmates can serve as another analog form of AI: one member brings a chorus or riff, and others contribute to make a song. Cole said AI could help people move beyond covers and work creatively like a band.

The remarks drew sharp criticism. Opponents point out that a human learning from a handful of songs is fundamentally different from an AI training on millions of copyrighted tracks. They also stress that artistic choices are shaped by emotion, lived experience and happy accidents, which cannot be replicated by a language model. Guitarist Steve Onotera, known as Samurai Guitarist, noted that a player's physicality and natural human errors make it impossible to copy someone else's work perfectly.

Later in the interview, Cole said AI could help create a new generation of guitar players and help them progress from students to masters of songwriting. However, critics argue that relying on AI tools can lead to deskilling. Writing good songs, they say, requires repeated practice — one must write many bad songs before producing a good one.