Creating Music from Words: Google AI’s Innovative Approach

Music, not ChatGPT, maybe the next great frontier for AI content development. Google has revealed research on MusicLM, a system that generates music based on a written description. This isn’t the first time an AI has created music. According to TechCrunch, efforts such as Google’s AudioML and OpenAI’s Jukebox have addressed the issue. However, MusicLM’s algorithm and large training database (280,000 hours of music) enable it to create music of astonishing diversity and depth. You may enjoy the results.

Not only can the AI blend genres and instruments, but it can also produce music utilising abstract notions that are generally impossible for computers to understand. MusicLM can create a “spacey, otherworldly” melody that creates a “sense of wonder and awe,” if you desire a combination of dance music and reggaeton. The system can even create songs by humming, whistling, or describing a picture. A narrative mode may combine various descriptions to create a DJ set or soundtrack.

MusicLM, like many AI generators, has flaws. Some compositions sound odd, and voices are often incoherent. While the performances are better than expected, they may be repetitious in ways that human efforts may not be. Don’t anticipate an EDM-style drop or a normal song’s verse-chorus-verse structure.

Simply don’t anticipate needing the technology anytime soon. MusicLM, like other Google AI generators, will not be released to the public because of copyright issues. Approximately 1% of the music generated at the time of publishing was directly taken from the training tunes. While licencing issues for AI music have yet to be resolved, a 2021 whitepaper by Eric Sunray (now working for the Music Publishers Association) stated that AI music has enough “coherent” remnants of the original sounds to infringe reproduction rights. You may need permission to distribute AI-created tunes, much like artists that depend on samples.

The field of music has already adopted AI. Algorithms have been employed by artists such as Holly Herndon and Arca to create albums and museum soundtracks. Those, on the other hand, are either collaborative (as with Herndon) or purposefully surprising (as with Arca’s). MusicLM isn’t quite ready for prime time, but it does hint at a future in which AI will play a greater role in the studio.