You may have heard of AI chatbots like AI Art, ChatGPT and Bing. You can now try free AI music from Google MusicLM.
Originally announced in January, MusicLM is now available for you to play with as a compliment to what Google calls its AI test kitchen. You can go directly to the MusicLM site to try it out, but Google may pop up asking you to sign up for AI Test Kitchen first. You must provide your Gmail address and agree that the prompts you provide will be anonymous, but may be reviewed by real members of our team.
Google quietly announced the opening of MusicLM at the Google I/O developer conference. It also announced AI enhancements to search and a service that protects email from the dark web. At least initially, it appears to have failed miserably.
Like the best AI art generators, MusicLM starts with a text prompt. Define the music you want on Google, for example “funeral for drums and bass” or “soft melody with strings”. Walk through the spring meadow.” MusicLM then generates a music sample that matches the one you provided and is about 20 seconds long. Some samples include “vocals”, but “wow wowVocals heard in anime peanut comic book.
What MusicLM will do ~ no The thing to do is AI art generator helped you sell yourself. Provide output in the style of other artists. When I ask MusicLM to provide samples of “U2 style”, I get the following error message: “Oops, couldn’t generate audio.” But if I cut out the artist name at the prompt, MusicLM proceeds.
Is MusicLM accurate? Not entirely, but at least to my ears. You’ll sometimes have a hard time understanding how it interpreted your prompts. And no, don’t expect weird prompts to miraculously produce coherent music. Heck, don’t expect generic prompts to produce good music.
However, sometimes MusicLM produces realistic music. This may not be the algorithm’s credit, but it’s how common some music can sound. “A modern pop country ballad you can hear on radio in your 40s”… But Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Drake probably have nothing to worry about.
All of the AI-generated samples are available for download, so you can use the AI to generate the backing track for your next hit, “Loving My Tractor in the Cornfields of Your Heart.” Now all you have to do is sing your own lyrics.