Is AI Music “Real Music?”
The song Despair demonstrates what a large group of human artists can accomplish: writing the music and lyrics, recording it, and mixing and mastering it in high-definition stereo and Dolby Atmos.
Considering my last article was about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in everything from music to images, video, voiceover, and writing, which included four classical songs that the Suno AI created a few minutes after I entered a one-sentence prompt, the questions continue to be:
- What is real music?
- Is the result a good song?
For clarity: Everything about the test video was primarily created with AI, including the classical music soundtrack. The polite way of saying what the common thread in the feedback was: “AI music is not real.”
I received an incredible amount of hate messages about the video, even though I announced that it was intended to be absurd. But like any humor, there’s truth to be found.
Is AI “Real Music?” Part 2
While the recording quality of these AI-generated classical songs may not match the standards we set with Despair; for the average listener in a less-than-perfect environment, the emotional impact remains intact. This is especially true for those who have grown accustomed to or have never experienced anything beyond MP3 or similar music formats.
But what about the compositions? The quality of the writing? The human emotion? The storytelling?
In the video below: one of these classical song excerpts was written and performed by a human orchestra, and the other was written and performed by an AI in less than 60 seconds.
Is it good enough for an average listener in an imperfect environment?
Can you tell which one is AI and which one is human?
I’ll release at least one AI rock/pop song in 2024. I’m not announcing anything about the song, so I don’t bias anyone’s viewpoint. The questions remain the same, regardless of whether a human or AI made it:
- What is real music?
- Is the result a good song?
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Concept, Image Prompt | Tom Libertiny