Doctoral Students At Queen Mary University Of London Build A New Music World With AI

The recording room at Queen Mary University of London (photo: screenshot)

JAKARTA - In the recording room at Queen Mary University of London, a group of researchers are fiddling with innovative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to develop what they call a new "virtual music world".

Andrea Martonelli and Max Graf are two of the more than 30 doctoral students who worked with Dr. Mathieu Barthet, a senior lecturer in Digital Media, to explore computational creativity and generative artificial intelligence. Together, they have established a futuristic studio where music meets cutting-edge technology.

"It's like the longest reality, XR, is a way to prolong the physical reality of where we live," said Graf.

Netz is played through the longest reality headset that tracks moves to create a suitable output, such as a tone or chord.

Martonelli plays "HITAR", a state-of-the-art guitar with an AI sensor, which reads his moves to generate drums and synthesizers.

While AI's presence in music creation can be traced back to the 1950s, the latest advances in generative artificial intelligence, with robots now making music a digital pop star, have divided revenues in the industry.

Widely known last year by the ChatGPT language system, generative artificial intelligence was able to create content including original sounds, lyrics, or songs as a whole by itself, but artists often use simpler AIs to improve their voices.

British alternative rock songwriter YUNGBLUD said he believed AI could help his music "to another direction". However, some musicians fear this technology could go too far.

"I feel if you need an AI to help write songs, especially when it's for similarity, that's not cool," said Amy Love of the alternative rock duo Nova Twins, referring to the artificially created artist's voice and adding that the use of the voice of the deceased artist was "not good".

In November, The Beatles released "Now and Then", considered their last song and featured John Lennon's voice extrapolated with AI from old records. Warner Music announced in November that it is partnering with the legacy of the deceased French singerdeddy Piaf to recreate his voice using AI.

While labels and streaming companies are working together to market this technology, many experts say that AI raises legal and ethical concerns.

"Illegal development is what will threaten opportunities for generative artificial intelligence," said Abbas Lightwalla, director of global law policy at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). However, regulations against generative artificial intelligence are still in its early stages.

"I think AI can have its place in the music production chain, after all if it is directed properly and if we make sure that musicians still have some control, as can the performers," said Dr. Barthet. "But maybe there is a situation where music produced by AI can work for new things that haven't even emerged yet, namely a new virtual world."