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Google’s new AI tool makes music from text

Google has built a new AI bot that can create music from text prompts in yet another example of artificial intelligence being used to mimic the arts.

The AI application called MusicLM was revealed in a paper published by Google researchers last week, as reported by Business Insider.

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There are no plans to release the app to the public, but Google says it is able to generate tunes from simple descriptions like “a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff,” while users can also enter commands like “Berlin 90s techno with a low bass and strong kick.”

The music is generated in high quality 24KhZ and as well as text descriptions, the AI will also respond to whistles and hums Google says.

The paper reads: “We demonstrate that MusicLM can be conditioned on both text and a melody in that it can transform whistled and hummed melodies according to the style described in a text caption.”

You can hear some of the examples of the technology in action over on Google’s GitHub page. The top entry is: “The main soundtrack of an arcade game. It is fast-paced and upbeat, with a catchy electric guitar riff. The music is repetitive and easy to remember, but with unexpected sounds, like cymbal crashes or drum rolls.”

And it sounds exactly like that.

News of the research is bound to add to the controversy over AI’s incursion into the creative industries. Last year saw plenty of arguments over the merits of artificially generated art and its potential to replace human-created content.

Already this year, we’ve seen controversy over CNET and Buzzfeed using AI to generate articles, while Apple is adding AI narration to audiobooks. If this technology capable of generating backing audio for games, commercials and other videos, yet another entire industry comes under threat.

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