Watch: Sony released two new songs from an unsigned AI

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WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Creative machines should be decades away but they’re here, today, and increasingly it looks like “creativity” is just another word for “algorithm.”

Sony recently announced that they’ve released two brand new pop songs from a new, unsigned artist, and while the announcement shouldn’t seem even worth noting, after all, Sony’s one of the world’s largest music company’s with over $5 billion in revenues, these songs were different. They’re arguably the future of music, but it’s not because of their content, it’s because the unsigned artist… well, it’s an artificial intelligence (AI). And that’s bad news if you’re an artist…

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Analysts, pah to analysts by the way, futurists rule, have told us for decades that creative machines wouldn’t appear on the horizon until at least the 2040’s but as ever technology moves faster than expected, and now Son’y AI is simply one of a number of new creative machines I’ve seen emerge. Now check out the first one called “Daddy’s Car” created in the style of The Beatles.

Daddy’s Car

This particular song was created by the folks at Sony’s CSL Research Laboratory using a piece of software they call “Flow Machines.”

So you might be wondering how it works, so let me enlighten you… the Flow Machines software learns music styles from an exhaustive catalogue of songs, then simply exploits unique combinations of styles as well as optimisation and interaction techniques which it uses to compose music in just about any style or genre.

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The second pop song, below, is called “The Ballad of Mr. Shadow” which is apparently a hat tip to our new AI overlords. The song was created in the style of American songwriters like Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Irving Berlin, among others.

The Ballad of Mr. Shadow

Naturally Sony aren’t the only company playing around with AI to create new music, Google have a musical AI called Magenta, that I wrote about a while ago. However, unlike Google though Sony have said that they plan on releasing the world’s first fully composed AI album later this year so watch out folks – an AI could soon be topping the Billboard charts.

Tell me what you think of the songs in the comments, and remember this is just the beginning…

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About author

Matthew Griffin

Fanatical Futurist ● Int'l Advisor and Keynote Speaker ● Disruption, Futures and Innovation expert

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working between the dates of 2020 to 2070, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series. Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future. A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries. Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.

Comments

Joe Guy#1

23rd April 2017

Not bad. More to come
Reply
- Matthew Griffin#2
  
  23rd April 2017
  
  Thanks Joe, you’re right – much, much more to come so watch out for the first AI to have a number one hit. That’ll make the headlines for sure but you heard it here first 😉
  Reply