Did you know? Artificial Intelligence wrote a Beatles-like song

Listening to a brand-new song that has all the harmonies and catchy melodies,  just like something The Beatles would have written, brings the timeless feel of the 1960s. But what if neither Ringo nor George, Paul, or John created it? And it was artificial intelligence that wrote it!

In a stunning fusion of music and technology, artificial intelligence is already embracing one of the most cherished artistic disciplines in the world. In 2016, it created the Beatles-inspired song “Daddy’s Car.”

A team of scientists and artificial intelligence specialists from Sony’s CSL Research Lab developed this surprising success by training an AI system on a sizable collection of Beatles songs and other well-known songs from that era. They sought to determine whether a machine could accurately depict the spirit of a band that transformed music as we know it. It was the AI’s responsibility to examine the chord progressions, lyrics, patterns, and stylistic elements that characterised The Beatles’ sound in order to produce a unique composition in their distinctive manner.

The result? “Daddy’s Car,” a tune that eerily echoes The Beatles’ music. The harmonies are spot-on, the tune has that easygoing, trippy quality, and it almost seems like it might have been a hidden track from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. While it might not fool a die-hard Beatles fan, it’s impressively close!

How does AI manage to do this?

A neural network, a sophisticated system that “learns” from enormous volumes of data by identifying patterns and drawing connections, is the kind of AI that Sony’s team employed. The AI effectively “learnt” what makes a Beatles song work by being fed hundreds of the band’s tunes. When prompted to compose, it put together Beatles-like chords, lyrics, and melodies using its data-driven “understanding.” The AI created the main composition, while human musicians later developed and arranged it.

The intriguing thing about this song is that it does more than simply mimic a musical style; it also raises questions about how artificial intelligence might advance traditionally human-dominated creative fields. Naturally, this poses intriguing queries: Is a machine really capable of creativity? Where do we draw the line between inspiration and imitation? And, perhaps most importantly, could AI one day rival humans in creating music that moves us?

What Critics Are Saying

AI compositions, according to critics, lack the emotional nuance and life experiences that human-made music possesses. Others, however, think AI is a fantastic instrument that gives musicians new methods to experiment with sounds, styles, and inspirations. AI might work alongside musicians rather than take their place, expanding the realm of what is conceivable in the music industry.

For now, “Daddy’s Car” is still a light-hearted and provocative demonstration of AI’s musical abilities. Who knows? We might witness the emergence of an entirely new genre in the future—music produced in partnership between humans and robots, fusing artistry and technology in ways we haven’t yet fully investigated.