The Future of Music: How AI Could Revolutionize the Industry

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry has sparked a frenzy of conversation, with some hailing it as a new era of music while others worry about the legal and ethical implications. Michael Sayman, a software engineer who has worked at Facebook, Google, Roblox, and Twitter, has built a website called AI Hits, which aggregates songs created by AI that mimic mainstream artists like Drake and Kanye West. The site ranks the songs based on their collective streams on various platforms. It’s a step towards the creation of a shared lexicon that will evolve over years. The legality of AI music, especially songs that mimic a dead artist without the approval of their estate, is a central question. Legacy acts, as well as pioneering musicians, see AI as a creative tool that could even create a whole new genre of music. Sayman believes AI could create a more democratic and open-ended music industry, with opportunities for more people to get involved in the music creation process.