Mick Jagger & Keith Richards on AI, Songwriting, and Rock's Mount Rushmore

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards sat down with Billboard to talk songwriting, artificial intelligence, and the legends they'd enshrine on rock's Mount Rushmore. The conversation reveals two musicians still fiercely engaged with their craft — and sharply skeptical of AI's role in reshaping the industry they helped build over six decades.

Key Takeaways

• Mick Jagger and Keith Richards opened up to Billboard about how the Stones' songwriting partnership has evolved over more than 60 years.
• Both artists expressed serious reservations about artificial intelligence's growing influence on music creation and the broader industry.
• Jagger and Richards each named their personal choices for a rock-and-roll Mount Rushmore — a list that reflects the Black roots of the genre they revere.
• The interview underscores a broader industry reckoning: how do legacy artists protect craft and authorship in an AI-saturated marketplace?
• For DC's live music scene — from the 9:30 Club to the Anthem — this conversation carries direct weight as venues and labels navigate AI-generated content.

Jagger & Richards on Songwriting: Six Decades, One Unbroken Thread

The Glimmer Twins — as Jagger and Richards have long been nicknamed — didn't stumble into one of rock history's most celebrated songwriting partnerships. They built it, song by song, fight by fight, starting in the London clubs of the early 1960s before exploding into a global force that reshaped American music back to America itself.

In the Billboard interview, Richards reinforced what longtime Stones observers already know: the best songs come from tension, not comfort. The push-pull between Jagger's mercurial instincts and Richards' groove-first discipline produced "Gimme Shelter," "Sympathy for the Devil," and "Tumbling Dice" — records that still hit hard on a Friday night at the 9:30 Club in Shaw or through the speakers at a U Street bar at midnight.

Jagger, now 81, spoke about the discipline required to sustain creativity across decades — rejecting the myth that great songs simply arrive. Richards, 80, echoed that sentiment, describing songwriting as a conversation between two people who genuinely don't always agree. That friction, both men suggest, is the engine.

For a city like Washington, where creative industries are increasingly funded through federal arts grants and institutions like the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Stones' model of sustained artistic collaboration carries real instructional weight. Longevity in music rarely looks like comfort — it looks like Jagger and Richards, still arguing, still recording.

On Artificial Intelligence: Rock's Elder Statesmen Draw a Hard Line

Neither Jagger nor Richards softened their skepticism about AI-generated music. In an era when tools like Suno and Udio can produce a passable rock track in under 60 seconds, the Stones' position is unambiguous: something essential is lost when a machine writes the song.

Richards, characteristically direct, has previously described AI music as fundamentally hollow — a technical simulation of feeling rather than feeling itself. Jagger, more analytical, raised questions about authorship and economic displacement: who owns an AI-generated song, and what happens to the session musician, the co-writer, the producer who would have otherwise been hired?

These are not abstract questions in Washington. The U.S. Copyright Office has been actively wrestling with AI authorship standards — issuing guidance in 2025 that human creative input remains required for copyright protection, a ruling with massive implications for every label, streaming platform, and independent artist operating in the current market.

DC's own music community — anchored in go-go, jazz, and an increasingly vibrant indie scene — has skin in this game. Local artists performing at venues from the Wharf's The Anthem to Blues Alley in Georgetown face the same structural disruption the Stones are flagging at the highest level. When Jagger questions AI's role, he's amplifying what smaller artists have been saying for years with far less of a platform.

Related: DC's Foster Youth Are Lobbying Congress — and Winning

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that AI-related music disputes tripled between 2024 and 2026, underscoring just how fast the legal and creative landscape is shifting beneath the industry's feet.

Rock's Mount Rushmore: Who Deserves to Be Carved in Stone?

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The Mount Rushmore question — a perennial favorite in music journalism — yielded revealing answers from both men. Without naming every artist they cited (Billboard has the full list), what's clear is that Jagger and Richards both reach back to the Black American architects of rock: Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson.

This matters. The Rolling Stones built their entire career on a foundation laid by Black American musicians — a debt Jagger has acknowledged publicly and Richards has honored in interviews for decades. Their Mount Rushmore choices aren't nostalgic detours; they're acknowledgments of lineage. Richards has called Chuck Berry "the Shakespeare of rock and roll" in previous interviews, a characterization that shapes how he thinks about craft even now.

For readers tracking DC's music and culture scene, this framing connects directly to the ongoing conversation about erasure and credit in American music history — a conversation that institutions like Howard University's music programs and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Northwest DC keep alive and urgent.

Rock and roll was not invented in London. Jagger and Richards, to their enduring credit, have never pretended otherwise.

Why This Matters in Washington

Washington isn't Nashville or Los Angeles, but the city punches well above its weight in music policy, arts funding, and cultural influence. The Kennedy Center books 2,000+ performances annually. The 9:30 Club and the Anthem sit among the most respected mid-size venues in the country. And Congress — which meets less than a mile from the Mall stages where artists have performed at every inauguration — writes the copyright law that governs every song ever recorded.

When Jagger and Richards weigh in on AI and authorship, their words land inside a policy ecosystem that is actively being debated on Capitol Hill. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on AI and copyright have featured testimony from musicians, labels, and tech companies — and the outcome will shape what American music looks and sounds like for the next generation.

DC readers who follow the intersection of politics and culture understand this intuitively: music isn't separate from power. It never has been. And right now, the most powerful people in rock are making the same argument that independent DC artists have been making in basement studios off Georgia Avenue for years.

Follow WDCM's Culture coverage for continuing analysis of how national music industry shifts hit different in the District.

The Bottom Line

The Rolling Stones are not relics performing nostalgia for stadium crowds. Jagger and Richards remain active, opinionated participants in a music industry undergoing its most disruptive transformation since the arrival of the MP3. Their Billboard interview — spanning songwriting craft, AI skepticism, and the Black artists who made rock possible — reads less like a retrospective and more like a mission statement. For Washington, a city where music policy and music culture collide daily, that statement deserves a serious read. Check out the WDCM Power Players Index for more on who's shaping culture and influence in the capital.

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FAQ: Rolling Stones, AI, and Rock's Legacy

What did Mick Jagger say about AI in music?

Jagger raised concerns about AI's impact on authorship and the economic displacement of working musicians. He questioned who owns AI-generated music and what happens to the human collaborators — co-writers, producers, session players — who would otherwise have contributed to a song.

What did Keith Richards say about songwriting with Mick Jagger?

Richards emphasized that tension and disagreement between the two of them has always fueled their best work. He described the Stones' songwriting partnership as a genuine creative argument — one that has produced some of rock's most enduring records over more than 60 years.

Who did the Rolling Stones name to their rock Mount Rushmore?

Jagger and Richards both reached back to the Black American pioneers of rock — artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Muddy Waters — reflecting their longstanding acknowledgment that the Stones built their sound on a foundation created by Black musicians.

What is the U.S. Copyright Office's position on AI-generated music?

The U.S. Copyright Office issued guidance affirming that human creative input is required for copyright protection. AI-generated music without meaningful human authorship does not qualify for copyright, a ruling with significant implications for labels, streaming platforms, and independent artists.

How does the Rolling Stones' AI stance connect to Washington DC?

Congress is actively debating AI copyright legislation, and Senate Judiciary Committee hearings have already featured music industry testimony. DC's live music scene — anchored by venues like the 9:30 Club and the Anthem — and its community of independent artists face the same structural disruptions Jagger and Richards are flagging at the global level.

Where can I read the full Rolling Stones Billboard interview?

The full interview with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards was published by Billboard, one of the music industry's most authoritative trade outlets.

What to Watch Next: Congressional movement on the AI Music Transparency Act could force streaming platforms to label AI-generated tracks by late 2026 — a development that would restructure how Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube compensate human artists. Watch this space. And follow WDCM Power Moves for updates as DC's policy world catches up to the culture.

Reporting drawn from: Billboard. Washington DC Magazine provides original analysis, DC-specific context, and editorial perspective beyond the source material.This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by WDCM editorial staff. Washington DC Magazine is committed to accuracy, transparency, and editorial integrity. If you believe any information in this article requires correction, please contact editor@washingtondcmagazine.com.