AI Music Upgrade, and OpenAI Courts Controversy

As if Suno and Udio Weren’t Enough AI Music News for 2024

What Happened? Elevenlabs demoed a new AI music tool - which for a layperson may sound increasingly indistinguishable from human-generated music - and claimed that ‘[a]ll of the songs … were generated from a single text prompt with no edits.’

• An example of the prompt Elevenlabs demonstrated, to notable effect was “Smooth Contemporary R&B with subtle Electronic elements, featuring a pulsing 104 BPM drum machine beat, filtered synths, lush electric piano, and soaring strings, with an intimate mood.”

• The preview, which is not yet widely available, comes just a month after the release of Udio, which was itself seen by many as the first ‘realistic’ music generation tools.

So What? Remember that Elevenlabs can also mimic your own voice, to a remarkable degree of accuracy. I have had members of my Patreon tell me they were certain my Elevenlabs voice clone was in fact my real voice [AI Explained is always my real voice, to be clear, but this demo was not]. So very soon, your voice could be the star of a musical. Or even a music video, if Sora is released by year end…

Does It Change Everything? Rating = ⚁

OpenAI Considers Controversial Revenue Options

What Happened? OpenAI are considering allowing a form of advertising into conversations, via leaked reports of publishers getting ‘richer expressions’ inside chats with GPT models. OpenAI are also actively considering allowing pornography and NSFW chats into conversations and Sora video generations.

• OpenAI have said the claim regarding pushing publishers content is ‘for discussion purposes only’. Sam Altman has previously stated that he dislikes the ad model as a way of making money.

• Wired reports that the new OpenAI model spec is telling in that it says the company is considering how to permit explicit content. ‘NSFW content “may include erotica, extreme gore, slurs, and unsolicited profanity.’

• On generating NSFW content with Sora, Mira Murati, OpenAI’s CTO, said she was ‘not sure’ if OpenAI would allow it. And, of course, one person’s ‘nudity’ is another person’s ‘pornography’. But she surprisingly kept the option open. ‘You can imagine that there are creative settings in which artists might want to have more control over that.’

So What? Let’s see what happens. But it would certainly be ironic if, after all the lofty rhetoric, the greatest revenue-generating aspects of AI were ads and porn. This is all way too early to regard as massively significant, hence the DICE rating below

Does It Change Everything? Rating = ⚀

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