AI and creativity in the community

In community journalism, the most compelling stories are often about people finding new ways to navigate change, including when it comes to evolving technology.

After pursuing music for four decades and opening for artists like Joan Jett and Blind Melon, Shepherdstown musician Scooter Scudieri has found an unlikely new collaborator: artificial intelligence.

Scudieri, 57, recently spent months training ChatGPT to act as his manager, creating an AI-powered system that helps organize his career, plan releases, and document his musical history as he prepares to release his new album. While AI is helping organize and promote Scudieri’s career, it does not touch his music, which has been written and produced by Scudieri himself across many years.

“It manages me, but obviously I am managing it,” Scudieri said. “You have to be aware that no matter what you’re doing with the AI, you have to double check.”

Scudieri built his AI manager by sharing his musical history and career goals to create what he calls a mission-aware system, outlining dozens of protocols, guidelines, and boundaries for it to follow. The project may be one of the first publicly documented examples of AI supporting long-term human creativity without generating the art itself.

It raises a bigger question: where do we draw the line?

Scudieri first sought assistance from AI while rewriting his artist bio, realizing it could “remember” details about him. From there, the system began suggesting practical steps, from setting up a way to collect streaming revenue to developing a detailed publicity plan. It even encouraged him to document his 40-year career, creating a space where his story lives alongside his music.

For independent artists, the challenge is not always creating. It is everything else. Managing a career, promoting work, and reaching an audience can be just as demanding as making the music itself. These parts do not always make headlines, but they matter.

Still working full-time, Scudieri has spent years creating music in the margins of his life, teaching himself production through Logic Pro and building songs piece by piece until they sound the way he imagined.

He is not handing over creativity to AI. He is setting boundaries around it and using it as a tool to propel his self-created work and career.

In a time where AI is often seen as taking over, this story takes on an unlikely perspective, one where technology exists in the background, not the spotlight.