Artificial Intelligence Music Is Already Here. What Comes Next?

In late April 2020, a company named OpenAI uploaded dozens of new tracks to SoundCloud, all of them matter-of-factly titled like "Hip-hop, in the style of Nas" or "Pop, in the style of Katy Perry." You'd be forgiven for initially thinking the songs were average YouTube covers. A few seconds spent listening to the gargled production, bizarre lyrics, and eerie vocals would definitely change your mind. The songs were all made using an artificial intelligence software called Jukebox, designed by OpenAI, a billion dollar research organization leading the field in AI research. Jukebox isn't your standard Elvis impersonator: After being trained on 1.2 million songs and other data about genres and artists, the neural net has learned to produce original music in the uncannily recognizable style of famous artists like Elton John and Rihanna.