Royal Caribbean Now Sets Your Vacation Photos to Music Using AI

Everyone loves posting a good vacation photo to Instagram--but what if each one could have its own unique soundtrack, too? Royal Caribbean is experimenting with that possibility, on Tuesday launching an online tool that turns user images into kaleidoscopic mini-videos, complete with original music inspired by the visuals -- and assembled by artificial intelligence (AI). A picture from a botanical garden, of red flowers and green leaves, generates two bars of smooth jazz. In a quick snap of the Bensonhurst Statue House, the cruise line's technology recognizes a dour likeness of a face peeking over a fence, and delivers a funky nu-disco snippet, with pumping guitars and horn swells. Titled SoundSeeker, the marketer's new website chops and swirls the three photos into one spinning abstract visual sequence -- weaving in ample shots of crystal blue waters -- and strings together the music, for a total of six bars at about 100 beats per minute.