ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN On A.I.-Generated Music And Artwork: 'The Quality Is Just Overwhelming'

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke about artificial intelligence and its growing use in the music creation process. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's scary, man. I think it's a necessary development, because we all knew it was gonna come one day, and here it is now. But at the same time, I wish... I mean, we always grew up thinking, like, art can only be made by humans. But now the lines get really blurry, mainly because the quality is just overwhelming. It's so good, some of the stuff that comes out of A.I., whether it's movies or even texts and photos, of course, artwork. Some of this stuff looks amazing, but it certainly doesn't help the idea that, 'Hey, mom and dad, I wanna be an artist,' because they're gonna say pretty soon, 'What's the point?'"

Wolf continued: "Think about it nowadays — I mean, we started all these 50 years ago. Trying to learn a guitar was very, very difficult, to buy all the equipment and to go into the rehearsal room for years. And it was a dream we had, and we put so much effort into it, thousands and thousands of hours learning it, and then getting better, and making mistakes. And nowadays somebody can just go, 'You know what? I'm just not gonna bother with that. I'm just gonna hit a button on my laptop and I'm an artist. There's the music. Poof. I don't have to learn an instrument anymore.' And that's a scary thought."

Addressing the fact that synthetic songs have soared to the top of charts like Billboard's ubiquitous rankings or Spotify's various top songs lists, Wolf said: "Yeah, it sounds really, really good. And at what point are record labels gonna say, 'You know what? We don't need to sign any artists. We don't need to sign ACCEPT. We don't need to sign any real bands because we just generate the music and create a fake artist and sell that.' I don't know. Is that gonna be a thing in the future, that people buy records of A.I.? Or maybe they don't buy anything anymore. I don't know. Maybe it's all gonna be free."

He added: "Imagine you're a fan of — I don't know — ACCEPT or IRON MAIDEN or somebody, and you click on it and then Spotify will suggest similar songs, and they might play some stuff that's all fake because it sounds very similar to IRON MAIDEN or ACCEPT. So you think, like, 'Oh, that's kind of cool.' But Spotify doesn't have to pay any royalties because there's no artist behind it. It's fake. So I'm sure that's gonna be a thing, if it's not already going on to a big degree, where you think, like, 'Oh, that's a cool song,' but it's A.I."

Hoffmann went on to call for stronger regulations on artificial intelligence in the music industry, saying protections are needed for musicians' work and urging lawmakers to take action.

"I think technology is so far ahead that we don't really have the answers to all that stuff yet," he said. "[The lawmakers are] just too slow. I mean, by the time they're thinking about how to deal with stuff like that, it's already all in place already. Very similar to what — you remember what happened when Napster came in. It was the same thing. It took years to find a regulation for it."

Wolf added: "The only good thing is that you can't really fake live shows yet. In order to see a concert or if you wanna go see a ACCEPT concert, there's still five guys having to travel and setting up their gear and performing live in front of you. And I don't think that will ever change anytime soon, unless you get into the whole fake — what do you call it? — hologram thing. I'm sure it's gonna be here before long, but I don't think there will be an ACCEPT hologram anytime soon."

Back in December 2024, Wolf told Framus & Warwick about A.I.-generated music and art: "Sometimes it's a bit scary when you check it out nowadays, what computers can do. The good thing is that is still based on human — I mean, it's not completely invented by machines. Machines just take what humans created and then make a conglomeration out of it, they make their own version of what already was created by other people. But still, man, it's scary what these machines can do. And I hope that live music — that will never be replaced, but it might be. Maybe 50 years from now, 20 years from now, 10 years from now, people are gonna go see concerts just created by machines. I don't know. Nobody knows. I hope not."

Hoffmann previously addressed the positive side of A.I., particularly as it relates to the potential to drive innovation, streamline processes, enhance productivity and improve decision-making across industries, during an April 2024 press conference in Paris, France to promote ACCEPT's "Humanoid" album. He said at the time: "I wouldn't go out and say it's all good or it's all bad. It's always a mix of everything. Modern technology in general, all the digital aspects of our daily life, there's some amazing aspects of it. I'm traveling a lot, and no matter where I go, I have my little iPhone with me and it has GPS on it. And I can just type in — I don't know; 'Indian restaurant' — and I'm gonna find one two blocks down the street. I would never find that without it. I wouldn't even know where to go. I'm at the airport. I can communicate on the plane with other people. All this is beautiful, I think. Of course there's a negative side of everything. And artificial intelligence sounds a little scary right now, but I'm quite hopeful that we will find a way to deal with it that enables us to take advantage of it without having it all just be negative. I mean, there's always two sides to everything, I believe."

He continued: "The thought of artificial intelligence creating art, that is something that concerns me. I wouldn't say I'm afraid of it, but at the same time, being an artist, I'm thinking, like, 'Is it gonna take all our jobs away one day?' I'm quite hopeful it won't, because I still think only humans can really express emotions.

"I hope that artificial intelligence is not gonna advance that much more that it can actually replace human thoughts and emotions. But am I a hundred percent sure? No," he added. "I never thought it would be that good already, but it's amazing what it can do already. There's gonna be visual art being created, music's gonna be created by it. Of course there's the aspect of it that it's basically you're ripping off existing songs and existing artwork to create the new stuff. When they create 'new' NIRVANA songs, they look at all the old songs and sort of use it as a reference. Will it ever be able to create original 'original' stuff? Maybe. I don't know. I hope not. But can I help it? No. Can I stop time? No. Technology marches on, whether we want it to or not. So it's an interesting time that we live in, I believe. And we yet have to find a way to deal with it. And I think anytime, in history, that there's new technology introduced, whether it's just something like the automobile, people were scared of it. Initially, they thought, like, it's gonna be harmful to people to travel at that speed, you know, because they were just used to horses and buggies. And so the same is true with all this… Anytime something new comes along, people are always like, 'Oh, God. It's gonna destroy everything.' But I don't think it will destroy everything. We have to just catch up and deal with it."

In March 2024, Wolf told Appetite For Distortion, that he tried using A.I. for lyrical ideas. "And it's scary good, to be honest," he admitted. "You can just say, 'Hey, write me a song lyric' or something, [and] it spits out some pretty amazing stuff. But, of course, you have to say, 'Is this really what I wanted to say? And is it me? Well, then how would I really say it?' So you still have to tweak it and stuff. And we ended up never using any of it, but for songwriting and demoing stuff, I was quite intrigued; I found it intriguing. It gives you a bunch of ideas that you hadn't thought about. And, of course, I've seen some images that were done with A.I. that I thought, 'Whoa.' A designer or a human would have to spend a lot of hours creating that thing, but it spits it out like that."

He continued: "The shadow and downside of this is, of course, that people might lose their jobs over it. And the downside is also that it's not really, truly original. A.I. doesn't really think of this stuff. It just looks at all the other stuff that was created by people and turns it into a different, new version. It uses, in the case of music, for instance, existing songs and creates a new version kind of like it, but it doesn't do it out of the blue sky; it looks at your stuff that somebody created. And there's all kinds of legal issues that come up. So I'm a little concerned about all that, yeah."

Circling back to the idea that artificial intelligence poses some risks to humanity, Wolf said: "We still haven't quite figured out how this is gonna turn out, how this is gonna pan out in the future. How much of it is good, how much of it is bad. We're still at the infancy."

He added:  "This digital revolution, as they call it, I think it's bigger than the industrial revolution was, and I think it has more far-reaching consequences on society than anything… One thing is for certain: we can't stop it. It's gonna happen whether we want it to or not. It's out, and it's gonna get used. We just have to see how to deal with it. That's what we haven't figured out yet, 'cause technology is so fast. We can't keep up with how society deals with it."

ACCEPT's 50th-anniversary album, "Teutonic Titans 1976–2026", was released on September 4, 2026 via Napalm Records.

Led by Wolf, the longtime architect of ACCEPT's sound, the band is joined by a staggering 50 guests across 19 reimagined versions of their biggest tracks. "Teutonic Titans 1976-2026" is ACCEPT's most ambitious and star-studded release to date.

Chronologically progressing through albums from their formative years, from "I'm A Rebel" (1980) to "Eat The Heat" (1989),ACCEPT present their songs with an all-new, all-star lineup, alongside the signature voice of Mark Tornillo and Wolf Hoffmann's unmistakable riffs. By enlisting a who's who of metal, no two songs on "Teutonic Titans 1976-2026" are the same. Every track features a different combination of vocals, guitars, bass, and drums, giving each classic a fresh edge.

Tobias Forge (GHOST) delivers a commanding performance on the track "Save Us" ("I'm A Rebel", 1980),joined by Ray Luzier on drums. Philip Anselmo (PANTERA),Kirk Hammett (METALLICA) and Mikkey Dee (SCORPIONS) tear through the speed metal classic "Fast As A Shark" ("Restless And Wild", 1982). "Balls To The Wall" surges with the powerful range of Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST),alongside the guitar work of Matthias Jabs (SCORPIONS),while the reimagined "Love Child" is elevated by Billy Corgan (SMASHING PUMPKINS) and David Ellefson (MEGADETH) (both songs from "Balls To The Wall", 1983).

Other guest stars on ACCEPT's extraordinary release include K.K. Downing (JUDAS PRIEST),Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (OVERKILL),Hansi Kürsch (BLIND GUARDIAN),Chris Jericho (FOZZY),Ralf Scheepers (PRIMAL FEAR),Billy Sheehan (MR. BIG),Ola Englund (THE HAUNTED) and Jeff Loomis (NEVERMORE). The re-recording of "Hellhammer" ("Eat The Heat", 1989) was performed by ACCEPT's current lineup: Wolf Hoffmann, bassist Martin Motnik, guitarist Philip Shouse and drummer Christopher Williams, joined by Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS) on vocals.

Over the past five decades, ACCEPT has sold millions of albums and inspired countless musicians. Their energetic live performances and iconic albums such as "Balls To The Wall", "Restless And Wild" and "Metal Heart" have left a lasting mark on the heavy metal genre. Hoffmann's guitar style and musical vision have made the band one of the most respected on the heavy metal scene.

After a hiatus in the band's career, Wolf was introduced to New Jersey singer Mark Tornillo in 2009. The chemistry and fit between them was so remarkable, ACCEPT reformed and almost immediately rose to global success with chart-topping albums. ACCEPT continues to be celebrated for each of their new records with Mark, who is now the longest-reigning frontman of ACCEPT, placing the Hoffmann-Tornillo partnership firmly in the Metal Hall Of Fame.

For decades, ACCEPT has been recognized as a guarantee of high quality and each of their albums has reached the top of the charts, delivering energy, melodies, killer riffs and an impressively powerful stage presence for 50 years.

Tornillo joined ACCEPT in 2009 as the replacement for Udo Dirkschneider, who was the band's original lead singer. Mark can be heard on ACCEPT's last six studio albums.

Press photo credit: Robert John