AI tracker: Passive listening is giving a boost to AI music
A rising tide of artificial intelligence (AI) bands is ushering in a new era where work will be scarcer for musicians, reported AFP. Whether it's Velvet Sundown's 1970s-style rock or country music projects 'Aventhis' and 'The Devil Inside,' bands whose members are pure AI creations are seeing more than a million plays on streaming giant Spotify. No major streaming service clearly labels tracks that come entirely from AI, except France's Deezer. Meanwhile, the producers of these songs tend to be unreachable. Artistes see the rise of AI music as a sign of how generic and formulaic genres have become. AI highlights the chasm between music people listen to 'passively' while doing other things and 'active' listening in which fans care about what artists convey, said producer and composer Yung Spielburg.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai recently, more than 150 robots were showcased by China in what appears to be the country's largest and most advanced lineup to date. The robots could be seen serving craft beer, playing mahjong, stacking shelves, and boxing, AFP reported. Organizers said the forum involved more than 800 companies, showcasing over 3,000 products, with the most popular exhibits displaying human skills, even badly. At one booth, a robot played drums, half a beat out of time, to Queen's 'We Will Rock You', for instance.
Microsoft announced a new experimental mode in its Microsoft Edge browser called Copilot Mode. Switched on (the user has to actively make the choice), 'you enable innovative AI features in Edge that enhance your browser,' said the company in a blog post, explaining the features you may experience: 'It doesn't just wait idly for you to click but anticipates what you might want to do next. It doesn't just give you endless tabs to sift through but works with you as a collaborator that makes sense of it all.'
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