Google’s AI Slop Machine Is Coming for Your Music

Google isn’t any stranger to AI slop. Over the previous couple of years, it’s dabbled in slopifying our favourite mediums and platforms, together with YouTube content material, movies, and sure features of gaming. With these broad pursuits, it’s protected to say that nothing is off the menu, and “nothing,” a lot to the dismay of people that like artwork, consists of music.

In its newest bid to blanket the Earth with AI, Google acquired ProducerAI, a generative AI music platform, which it can fold beneath the Google Labs umbrella. Google plans to infuse ProducerAI with its Lyria 3 mannequin for music technology, so you may lob prompts on the chatbot like, “make a lofi beat,” and watch because it snatches the enjoyment of creation straight out of your misguided arms. To have a good time the brand new partnership, Google tapped Alex Pall, the man from The Chainsmokers, who stated:

“We are so grateful to see how this platform continues to evolve. It’s truly crafted around the musician’s experience. The founders are incredibly technical, but natively musicians, and understand the nuances of what makes a platform truly be an additive tool in the creation process.”

Both Google and the founders of ProducerAI are cautious to distance themselves from the concept ProducerAI and Lyria 3 are simply making music slop, however based mostly on every thing it does and my (albeit temporary) expertise with it, this seems and appears like a slop machine. For occasion, I entered a immediate to “make grungy rock music,” and a couple of minute later, I used to be listening to an AI-generated track with a corny blues riff, fundamental drums, and a few fairly repetitive elements. Obviously, how you employ ProducerAI or Lyria 3 as a musician is solely as much as you, however for those who needed it to generate a complete track, you possibly can do it. You may even immediate granular features of the track like lyrics, sounds, devices, and the way they sound. You’d be lazy and arguably misunderstanding the entire level of making issues by doing so, however you might do it!

Despite that very sloppy premise, Google says in its personal assertion on the acquisition that “Our focus is on enhancing human artistry, enabling exploration and expression,” which sounds about proper contemplating this is identical firm that thinks you need an “AI filmmaker.”

Unfortunately, there’s nothing notably shocking about Google dipping its toes additional into generative music since (as I discussed earlier than), it appears fairly hellbent on AI-ifying all kinds of features of human artistry, but it surely’s nonetheless deflating all the identical. I’m all for utilizing know-how in music—even AI when it feels helpful—however there’s nonetheless (and I can’t consider I’ve to say this) advantage in doing issues your self. Contrary to the borderline ghoulish views of AI advocates just like the CEO of Suno—one other well-known AI music platform—I don’t consider that “… people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.” Maybe I’m incorrect, and if I’m, I suppose I’ll be a part of the Luddites in being wrongfully labeled as an opponent of progress. But perhaps I’m proper, and if that’s the case, we are able to all proceed forth, worry-free, understanding the overwhelming majority of actual musicians will quickly neglect that AI music slop was ever on the menu.