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Will AI kill music, or herald a new era of creativity?

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Reuters

Using artificial intelligence to make music is a topic that has divided opinions in the industry:&quot;I don&#x27;t like it. We don&#x27;t like it.&quot;“It&#x27;s absolutely not going to go away&quot;“I think it&#x27;s never going to replace live music” Thanks to recent groundbreaking technological advances, Generative AI can already produce original sounds, lyrics, or entire songs on its own.Robots are now making music as digital pop stars, while existing artists often use simpler AI to enhance their sound.As the technology continues to develop, will AI mean the death of original music, or herald a new era of creativity?Inside this studio at London’s Queen Mary University, music meets cutting-edge tech.PHD student Max Graf showcases ‘Netz’, a virtual instrument played by wearing an augmented-reality headset which tracks hand movements to create corresponding outputs, like notes or chords.While Andrea Martonelli fiddles with the ‘HITar’, an advanced guitar with AI sensors which read movements to make drum and synthesizer sounds.“The way it works is that it&#x27;s got a little bit of, like a simple artificial intelligence, that tracks whether you&#x27;re coming down with a heel or you&#x27;re coming up with fingers, and it&#x27;s consistent all across the body. So, if you have different techniques, if you have different progressive techniques, you can all use them.”While artists have used technology for creative purposes since the 1950s, the use of AI -- like Netz and the HITar -- could be the newest tool to experiment with music.Speaking to Reuters, UK alternative rock artist YUNGBLUD believes AI could be a tool for his music:&quot;I think it allows me another space of inspiration or like, another way of thinking. I think it&#x27;s never going to replace live music, I think. And that&#x27;s mainly the way I lead from. So I&#x27;ll use it in a scenario where I&#x27;ll be able to take a beat off a track, or I&#x27;ll be able to pull a guitar line off a track to take me to another direction.&quot;Other musicians, like alternative rock duo the Nova Twins, disagree:&quot;I don&#x27;t like it. We don&#x27;t like it. I feel if like if you need AI to help me write a song, especially when it&#x27;s for a likeness. That&#x27;s not cool.&quot;The technology has recently seen the return of The Beatles, featuring the voice of John Lennon extrapolated with AI from an old recording.Warner Music has also signed a deal to recreate the voice of late French singer Edith Piaf.While labels and streaming companies partner to market the technology, many experts say AI raises legal or ethical concerns, especially when generative AI regulation is still in early stages.Abbas Lightwalla is the Director of Global Legal Policy at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry:&quot;The sort of problem that we&#x27;ve faced is that there has been a real proliferation of AI developers who have trained AI models with large scale amounts of copyright works without actually getting any authorization for doing so, and then using those tools to generate new content that actually competes with the very works that they&#x27;ve misappropriated.&quot;So what does the future look like for AI in the music industry?Dr. Mathieu Barthet is the senior lecturer in digital media at Queen Mary University.&quot;I think AI can have its place in the music production chain, again if it&#x27;s guided in the right way and if we ensure that the musicians keep a certain amount of control, and performers as well.&quot; —Report from Reuters

Thanks to recent groundbreaking technological advances, Generative AI can already produce original sounds, lyrics, or entire songs on its own.

Thanks to recent groundbreaking technological advances, Generative AI can already produce original sounds, lyrics, or entire songs on its own.