What is YouTube telling us about music and AI?

PLUS: 3 AI tools to kick off your creative spark ✨

Author

Strange Magic
August 28, 2023

Hello, Human Friend!

As music and AI start drawing more attention, big media platforms like YouTube can’t look away. They know something big is coming and they’re planning ahead, with the help of the music industry. Meanwhile, we’ve got 3 great tools you’ll definitely want to try for some creative spark. ✨ 

P.S - We’ll be off and out of your inbox next week. So, you can go enjoy a little fresh air!

In this edition of Strange Magic…

  • 🎹 YouTube prepares for the rise of AI music

  • 🧰 Generative AI might kick off a maker renaissance

  • 🤡 It might also become the center of the culture war

  • 😻 Let’s all just enjoy some bad-ass cats

Read time: 6 minutes

🔮 What’s New

Source: Midjourney

Last week, rumors surfaced about Google and Universal Music Group working on licensing AI-generated songs. It comes as no surprise, then, that YouTube has now joined the movement. In an announcement with Universal Music Group, YouTube outlined three principles guiding their decisions in this era of AI-generated content:

  • Principle #1: AI is here, and we will embrace it responsibly together with our music partners.

  • Principle #2: AI is ushering in a new age of creative expression, but it must include appropriate protections and unlock opportunities for music partners who decide to participate.

  • Principle #3: We've built an industry-leading trust and safety organization and content policies. We will scale those to meet the challenges of AI.

To embody the first principle, YouTube launched a Music AI Incubator program where a select group of UMG artists will test AI tools and influence research and product development. The other principles are focused on supporting the rise of AI-assisted musicians while safeguarding human copyrights, and combating illicit use of AI-generated content through dedicated AI-detection tools.

The YouTube news is a signal that the big kids are starting to take AI generated sound seriously and potentially a sign that we are about see a music industry flipped on its head… again. Unlike their approach to Napster in 1999, the industry seems to recognize that they won’t be able to litigate AI out of existence.

In Other News

  • Artificial reality: While most of Hollywood is debating if there is a place for AI in entertainment, one mammoth indie production company is going all in. The company behind Big Brother and MasterChef has announced a creative fund for the development of new TV formats focused on, and using, artificial intelligence.

  • Scoop this: Ars Technica reports that the New York Times is considering a lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement in its training data. If the Times follow through and if they were to win the case, it could lead to a complete shutdown and rebuild of ChatGPT.

📖 Good Reads

Source: Every

The rise of generative AI is opening a new era for makers, who thrive in environments of accessible technology and high iteration velocity. The generative AI space is particularly ripe for makers due to its accessibility and broad range of applications. As makers continue to experiment and innovate, they will define how we interact with generative AI and potentially reshape industries.

The debate over AI is becoming the newest battleground in the culture war, with one side calling chat bots too “woke” and the other warning of AI’s potential to spout racist and hate fueled speech. But, while each side blames developers for biased programming, everyone misses the real point. Large language models like ChatGPT are just a reflection of the biases that we’ve projected online for years, synthesized and given back us (in the form of a bawdy limerick if so choose). We need to be using AI as a tool to help solve inequities and bias, not at as a misunderstood weapon in the culture war.

More Reads

⚙️ Try These

Source: Ideogram: Strange Magic

  • Ideogram: Here’s a brand new text-to-image generator offering something no one else currently does, (mostly) reliable text generation in images. Sign up to try the free beta, but note that all image generations are public and not for commercial use (at least for now.)

  • Lex: Lex is not a tool to make AI handle your writing duties, it’s a new take on a full featured word processor with really smart AI additions like tone and voice feedback, rewrite assist, and quick word replacements.

  • Playbook for Midjourney: If you have tried Midjourney (and you should), you quickly realize it can be hard to organize your image generations and prompts. Playbook solves this with a Midjourney integration that automatically saves all of your images, variations, and prompts into groups with AI tagging. A premium membership for Playbook is required.

🧪 The Lab

The Lab

✨ We’re Diggin’

Source: Twitter @MatanCohenGrumi

  • The Cats of Beverly Hills: Here’s an AI animated short from Matan Cohen-Grumi generated on the new Pika text-to-video platform, featuring loads of blinged out cats. What’s not to love?

  • What will our pets say about us?: Speaking of cats, researchers from Tel Aviv University have explored the potential for AI to understand non-human animal communication, framing it as "The Doctor Dolittle challenge."

  • The doctor AI will see you now: A new AI tool has been developed that can detect hidden heart disorders from common (in the medical world) ECG photos. The tool can identify patterns, invisible to the human eye, that may indicate the presence of a dangerous heart condition. This breakthrough could lead to more widespread screening and early detection of heart disease. 🍎 

🌤️ Fresh Air

Don’t forget to look around!

  • I’d like to be, under the sea: Scientists have discovered that the "Octopus Garden," a remote seamount two miles under the Pacific Ocean, is the largest known gathering of octopuses on Earth. It’s apparently the perfect neighborhood for raising little octopus kids as the warm water makes the brooding process much quicker.

  • The hidden functional art of tree-shaping: Indian photographer Bharat Sikka's series for Atmos magazine captures the Khasi tribes of northern India, known for their matriarchal society and intimate connection with nature. The Khasis practice tree shaping, creating living root bridges from rubber fig trees that have been shaped over hundreds of years.

Let us know how we’re doing, and drop of a note so we can make Strange Magic better for you.

Well, that’s enough strangeness for one day. Hope you learned something new. If you enjoyed it, please spread the word! Tell your friends to subscribe!

Because, our robot plans to study abroad. 🤖

And, of course, if you have anything interesting to share, or just want to say hi, please feel free to reach out to us.