Will AI mean the death of music, or herald a new era of creativity?
GDANSK/LONDON (Reuters) - Inside a recording room at Queen Mary University of London, a group of researchers fiddle with novel artificial intelligence (AI) tools to develop what they call the “new virtual worlds” of music.
Andrea Martonelli and Max Graf are among more than 30 doctoral students working with Dr Mathieu Barthet, a senior lecturer in Digital Media, to explore computational creativity and generative AI. Together, they have set up a futuristic studio where music meets cutting-edge tech.
“It’s like extended reality, XR, is a way of extending the physical reality that we live in,” Graf told Reuters while showcasing “Netz”, his virtual instrument.
Netz is played through an augmentedreality headset that tracks gestures to create corresponding outputs, like notes or chords.
Martonelli plays the “HITar”, an advanced guitar with AI sensors, which reads his movements to make drum and synthesiser sounds.
While the presence of AI in musicmaking can be traced back to the 1950s, recent groundbreaking advances in generative AI, with robots now making music
, opens new tab as digital pop stars, have divided opinions in the industry.
Made popular last year by the ChatGPT language system, generative AI is capable of creating content including original sounds, lyrics or entire songs on its own, but artists often use simpler AI to enhance their sound.
UK alternative rock singer-songwriter YUNGBLUD told Reuters he believes AI could help his music go “to another direction”. Other musicians worry that the technology could go too far.
“I feel if you need AI to help me write a song, especially when it’s for a likeness, that’s not cool,” Amy Love from alternative rock duo Nova Twins said, referring to artist’s voices being artificially generated and adding that using dead artists’ voices is “not on”.
In November, the Beatles released “Now and Then”, billed as their last song and featuring the voice of John Lennon extrapolated with AI from an old recording. Warner Music (WMG.O) , opens new tab said in November it was partnering with the estate of deceased French singer Edith Piaf to re-create her voice using AI.
While labels and streaming companies partner to market the technology, many experts say AI raises legal and ethical concerns.