"Open" AI 🤦

Open-source fundamentally changes the dynamics of competition
Open-source fundamentally changes the dynamics of competition: In the closed-source world, competitor relationships are defined by intense fighting & secrecy. In open-source, competitors can be far more collaborative and transparent, escaping zero-sum game traps.
"Live musicians were so terrified of recording their music FDR had to step in"
#Comment: 100y ago, the emergence of recorded music & radio sparked intense debates among musicians, who viewed the new technologies as threats. In hindsight, it's clear that the transformation was swift, all-encompassing & largely positive. We can draw analogies from this experience today
The Digital Audio Workstation Disconnect
Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) were designed to unleash musicians' creativity, yet their user experience often feels like operating complex and dull business software or sitting in a fighter jet cockpit. How did we end up with such a disconnect between intention & reality?
Kai's Power Tools, released in 1992, introduced many innovative ideas how to playfully interact with Generative systems, that are still relevant today.
"The interface is the padded cell, you just can’t hurt yourself. Whatever you do, it invites you to play with the buttons and click on everything." - Kai Krause, early 1990s
Spotify, a sleeping giant?
Puzzled by the lack of focus on AI at Spotify's StreamOn event today. Given the enormous potential of AI in music and its rapid advancements, it's surprising that they had zero related news, besides a brief mention of their new "AI DJ", which feels like an afterthought product.
I'm in love with Audio Superresolution ♥️
All those music records made from 1900 > 1960 that are so wonderful but have terrible quality? Audio Super-Resolution let's us reimagine them in pristine modern quality. Wild times.
Generative Music Tech Bro Communities
One of the prominent generative AI music communities distinctly feels like a ultra geeky tech bro festival, akin to hardcore gaming communities. Would Charlie Parker and Miles Davis (or any of the leading musicians of the past 100y) have intermingled with it?
Enjoy some atmospheric lofi-ish music, generated with riffusion
France’s baby bust - France was once Europe’s superpower, thanks above all to its enormous population. Its decline coincided with a collapse in its birth rate – now we know why.
Generative Bedtime Stories
A simple yet powerful app using Generative Voices + GPT + Apple Watch: "Bedtimes stories" where the style of the voice & story contents are continuously adapted based on biofeedback, to optimally put you to sleep. Such "Closed-Loop Feedback" tools will become very popular soon.
Illustration from research on "Closed-loop auditory stimulation"
私は自分の生きていること全体をダンスと呼びたくなってきていて、「私はひとつのダンスです」と言えたらいいなと思うんです。
- 田中泯,
I am beginning to feel like calling “dance” the entire reality of my living. It would be great if I can announce “I am a dance.”