Meeting looks at music intelligence

The Second Summit on Music Intelligence was launched in Beijing on Saturday.

Co-organized by the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence and the Central Conservatory of Music, the three-day event aimed at displaying and promoting the combination of AI technology and music.

On Saturday, a concert, featuring musicians from the Central Conservatory of Music, presented music works composed based on the implementation of AI technology, including Starry Night, a composition by Sun Yuming which showcased AI’s ability to capture guzheng performers’ gestures and expression, and Drizzle Path, composed by Zhao Yixuan, highlighting the use of AI algorithms to generate new timbres.

Six members of the audience were invited to join the concert by wearing brainwave-reading headsets. The headsets detect signals from the brains of the performer and composer, transforming them into music to allow real-time improvisation.

“AI is everywhere and is radically changing our daily lives. In music, AI is fundamentally changing not just how we listen to it, but how music is created and even how the music industry operates,” said Li Xiaobing, executive director of the concert and head of the music AI and information technology department at the music school.

The music AI and information technology department was founded at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 2019. The department comprises an AI music center, an electronic music composition center and music therapy center.