The Song Google’s Robot Composed
A Google A.I. program has written its first piece of music. Here’s what it sounds like.
Pascal Guyot/AFP/Getty
It’s only 83 seconds long, involves only one instrument, and isn’t the catchiest tune in the world, but cut it some slack—it’s the first song ever composed by a machine.
This week Google’s Magenta project released a short piano composition produced by an artificial intelligence program Magenta developed. Only the first four notes were man-made; the rest was up to the machine.
This is the first tangible result of the work being done at Magenta, which Google announced last month at Moogfest. The aim of the project is to see if A.I. can be artistically creative.
“Our main goal is to design algorithms that learn how to generate art and music,” Magenta says on its website. “We believe this area is in its infancy, and expect to see fast progress here.”
With all that in mind, the robot’s song sounds better each time you hear it.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.