Composing by computer
Concerts may soon feature music written by artificial intelligence
THESE DAYS, anyone with a computer can be a composer. Sort of. Give a piece of commercial software such as Magenta, developed by Google, the first few notes of a song, and it will make something merrily tuneful out of them. Tuneful, but not sophisticated. At least, that is the view of Gerhard Widmer of Johannes Kepler University, in Linz, Austria.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Programmes by programs”
More from Science & technology
Are ice baths good for you?
They won’t hurt. Actually they might, a bit
Why carbon monoxide could appeal to the discerning doper
Professional cycling is debating whether to ban the poisonous gas
A sophisticated civilisation once flourished in the Amazon basin
How the Casarabe died out remains a mystery
Heritable Agriculture, a Google spinout, is bringing AI to crop breeding
By reducing the cost of breeding, the firm hopes to improve yields and other properties for an array of important crops
Could supersonic air travel make a comeback?
Boom Supersonic’s demonstrator jet exceeds Mach 1
Should you worry about microplastics?
Little is known about the effects on humans—but limiting exposure to them seems prudent