I know, I know. Isn't pop music written by robots already? Har har. But really: Researchers at Sony's Computer Science Laboratory in Paris have shared a pair of tracks created with the assistance of software called Flow Machines. The program analyzes a database of existing songs to "learn" musical styles and identify commonalities, then "unique combinations of style transfer, optimization, and interaction techniques" to synthesize original music.
Researchers can tailor the process to produce tunes that sound like the work of a particular artist—for example, "Daddy's Car," which is intended to emulate the style of the Beatles. A second song, "Mr. Shadow," is fashioned in the style of Great American Songbook composers like Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington.
The singularity isn't upon us. Neither of these songs were entirely composed by artificial intelligence, nor did a computer write the words.
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