What kinds of music can you create with generative AI?

Here are some examples.

jazzy, fast piano

Klezmer band

Afropop, female vocals

minimalist, hypnotic, electronic. synth-pop, krautrock

These clips were made with Suno.

Suno is a generative AI tool for creating music. Enter a text prompt and it will create a short clip of music for you based on that prompt. You can then extend your clip to make a longer version.

You can create music with or without vocals. It uses ChatGPT to create lyrics for you, or you can write your own lyrics. Free and paid accounts are available. You can create about 10 songs per day with the free version.

• If you are a paying subscriber to Suno, then you own the songs you generate.
• If you are using a free version of Suno, they retain ownership of the songs you generate, but you're allowed to use those songs for non-commercial purposes.
  
  Learn more in their FAQs.

Another useful tool for AI generated music is Udio.
New AI music generator Udio synthesizes realistic music on demand.
 

Prompting for music generation

A good place to get ideas for musical styles and terms is in this Wikipedia article:
List of music genres and styles.

You can also browse the Suno homepage for a showcase of songs made by others, with their prompts.  Try Explore New Styles for examples from many, many styles.

What are some fears and potential unethical uses of this technology?

• Replacing human musicians and songwriters

  • A major fear is that as AI music capabilities grow, it could make human musicians obsolete, leading to job losses in the industry. Many worry AI will be used unethically to avoid hiring real artists.

    See 200+ Artists Urge Tech Platforms: Stop Devaluing Music.

• Copyright infringement and voice mimicry without consent

  • There are concerns about AI systems being trained on copyrighted music without permission. AI is also being used to mimic famous artists' voices in viral songs, often without the artist's consent, raising ethical issues.

• Oversaturation and loss of originality

  • Some argue that AI-generated music will lead to a flood of repetitive, formulaic songs that lack the creativity and originality of human-composed music. This could negatively impact the art of songwriting.

What are some beneficial uses of this technology?

• Inspiration and overcoming creative blocks

  • AI music generators can provide musicians with fresh ideas and help break through songwriter's block by suggesting unusual chord progressions, melodies, or lyrics. This can spur creativity and lead to new directions in songwriting.
    
    "Overall, these generative AI-generated melodies have played a role in giving me more ideas or helping me overcome a creative block."
    -- Carlos Arana, Berklee College of Music in What is Generative AI and Should Musicians be Afraid?

• Democratizing music creation

  • ​​​​​​​AI music generators make it easier for people to create pleasing music even if they lack formal musical training or access to expensive equipment and lessons. This opens up music creation to a wider range of people.

• Generating royalty-free music for content creators

  • AI music generators are being used to create rights-free background music for YouTubers, podcasters, and other content creators. This provides an affordable source of music for those creators.