LifeScore aims to use AI to compose a soundtrack to your life

Imagine a world where your every sensation is augmented with music. When you pick up speed while out running, the music responds; as you enter a forest, instruments of deeper bass are seamlessly layered into the piece; and as your car creeps beyond the speed limit, the music alters rhythm to keep you in check. It may not be as far away as you think. "When we say we want to soundtrack your life, it's a big ambition," acknowledges Philip Sheppard, CEO of LifeScore. "But take a movie: when a soundtrack is considered, it is getting under your skin and leading your emotional response. "We're not telling people what to feel, but hopefully forcing serendipity – which is the point when the movie director of your brain goes'I'm here and present for this'." Virtuoso cellist Sheppard knows quite a bit about soundtracks – a renowned composer who has written with the likes of David Bowie and Queens of the Stone Age, he has more than 65 film scores to his credit and has worked on global music projects including Olympic Games ceremonies, the Rugby World Cup and the Tour de France. Accentuating the small moments which together make up a lifetime is the goal of a London start-up which uses AI – the company considers this to mean'Augmented Intelligence' – to help music respond to these changes in environment. "Massively generalising, the music falls into five camps: calming and sleep; flow and focus for work; daydreaming and wonder; narrative fantasy; or energy and uplift," says Sheppard. "We've really got into sensory ontology, which is how you link colour, texture, flavour and taste to sound.