The AI Music Era Is Here. Not Everyone Is a Fan
AI songwriting has gotten shockingly good — with big implications for the music world.
At first, “Simplicity’s Delight” sounds like a catchy pop song for a Velveeta commercial. The singer exalts “a humble slab of cheese” over a light guitar and breezy percussion. Listen closely and you may notice the voice sounds a little computerized — though it could be autotuned. The real giveaway that the singer may not be human comes in the second verse when they mispronounce the word “tangy.”
The song was created with software from Suno Inc., one of a new crop of artificial intelligence startups focused on building tools to automate the music-making process. Enter a short written command and Suno will generate shockingly human-sounding music in seconds — anything from a dreamy electro-pop ditty about a breakup to, well, an acoustic tune celebrating the delights of fermented dairy products. Entire albums of what appear to be AI-generated songs made with Suno are now streaming on services like Spotify.
Generative AI has been used to churn out all kinds of content, including text, images and videos. Now, music is shaping up to be the next frontier, with the promise of empowering anyone to express themselves through song. In the process, however, AI startups have heightened worries over artists’ livelihoods and could soon fill the internet with half-baked, computerized songs. They may also test the tolerance of music labels, which have a long history of being litigious against the tech industry.