Do you like a song you put in a YouTube video but want to put a new spin on it? The video platform is testing a new artificial intelligence tool to do just that, at least when you post a short video. YouTube allows a limited number of creators to use the artificial intelligence tool as a kind of co-producer. They can send their music and a message about genre, mood or other elements, and the AI will create a new 30-second soundtrack that attempts to fulfill the request.
The remix feature uses YouTube's Dream Track, a set of artificial intelligence tools launched a year ago for some US-based artists. AI works with creators to compose songs based on cues and pre-recorded voices. Artists like Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Sia, T-Pain and Charlie Puth gave YouTube permission for Dream Track to use their singing. The new tool brings Dream Track into the popular track remixing facet of the music industry by redesigning it with a new mood and type of sound. They could turn a pop song into a jazz ballad or an R&B song into a formal baroque-style sound.
All Dream Track features use the Lyria music generation AI model developed by Google's DeepMind team. Lyria interprets words and audio and recombines the ideas behind both into unique music. Despite being new tracks, YouTube insisted that the origin of the AI and the human artist behind the new track will be obvious.
“If you're a creator in the experimental group, you can select an eligible song > describe how you want to style it > then generate a unique 30-second soundtrack to use in your short,” the YouTube description explains. “These reworked soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the short itself and the shorts' dynamic audio page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was reworked with AI.”
musical dreams
The ability to quickly customize music to fit any specific genre, mood, or theme has obvious appeal for creators. And the industry probably won't be too upset thanks to YouTube's proactive measures to avoid copyright issues. YouTube and Google have made ostentatious efforts to compensate creators and rights holders when it comes to AI assistance. YouTube and Universal Music Group (UMG) signed a deal last year to work out a compensation plan for AI to address that issue before YouTube launches an AI music generator.
Compare that to the annoyance of creators who have had their videos copied to train AI models without their permission. Still, YouTube wants AI to fill its platform in as many ways as possible. The platform has already tested all kinds of artificial intelligence tools for the public. AI can help inspire new video ideas with YouTube's Brainstorm with Gemini tool and get ahead of the kind of rights issues raised by artists thanks to an AI tool to remove copyrighted music from your video without removing it entirely .
