Can AI take over the music industry?

Ever since Deep Thought became the first programme ever to defeat a chess grandmaster in 1988, mankind has been seriously contemplating its supremacy over machines in terms of complex thinking -- not just raw computing power. After AlphaGo trounced go-master Lee Se-dol last year, the consolation prize for humans appeared to be their artistic sense. But now, as more engineers look to teach artificial intelligence how to be more creative to the extent of writing their own music, that artistic edge is being challenged. A recent project by the state-run Korea Creative Content Agency and S.M. Entertainment invited six teams of local researchers and start-up firms to use AI in creating music. The use of technology -- such as voice processing tools like auto-tune -- is already common in today's music business, but the project aims to put the computer in the driver's seat of the creative process.