Rise of AI-assisted art raises challenges notions of proprietary rights

Artificial intelligence is finding its way into the world of music, literature and art, raising never-before-considered questions about a creators' role. A team led by Shigeki Sagayama, professor of mathematical engineering and information physics at Meiji University, has created software that can compose a melody to accompany any given lyric. Available for use online, the automatic composition software, named Orpheus, has produced hundreds of thousands of pieces of music since its launch in 2007. Sagayama has developed a method to produce melodies based on the cadence of the Japanese language. He said AI works well in the field of musical composition as the established theories, rules and systems -- such as harmonics -- make programming feasible.