In last Tuesday’s (8/27) Washington Post, Yan Wu writes, “Artificial intelligence allows anyone to produce professional-sounding music in virtually any genre. Its use is surging in music and has caught the attention of major industry groups…. [Pending] lawsuits … could help safeguard the rights of musicians and record labels … AI could well present more opportunities than challenges for musicians….AI-generated songs lack the fluidity of music created by humans. But musicians who experiment with AI can give themselves an edge in an evolving industry. AI can expedite their own creative work and provide inspiration…. AI is incapable of creating the magic that proficient human musicians can achieve. But when guided and curated by artists, it can help generate masterpieces. In [one] example, a group of musicians and scientists trained AI on Beethoven’s music, then used it to complete the great composer’s unfinished 10th Symphony. The AI model generated multiple possibilities, and the musicians chose the contributions that made sense…. Working together, they expanded Beethoven’s original 200 notes to a 40,000-note symphony. Audiences who listen to the result struggle to distinguish Beethoven from AI.” The article includes examples of written prompts to Suno for music as well as the resulting audio output.
