Dubai gets world's first AI-composed theme song

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Dubai - AI-powered Aiva finished the 'Ode to Dubai' in just 72 hours.

by

Angel Tesorero

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Published: Tue 1 May 2018, 5:49 PM

Last updated: Mon 22 May 2023, 12:55 PM

The world's first AI-composed (artificial intelligence) anthem dedicated to a city, titled 'Ode to Dubai', was unveiled at the ongoing Internet of Things Expo (IoTX) at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Tuesday.

"Composed by Aiva (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist), the 2 min 40 sec musical piece was created by scanning 30,000 scores composed by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Vivaldi, and other classic and contemporary composers to depict the meteoric rise of Dubai as an international city," Pierre Barreau, CEO of AIVA Technologies, told Khaleej Times.


Barreau explained that Aiva is powered by algorithms of Deep Learning. "AIVA is trained to understand music on a database of scores, and AI is used to create its own mathematical representation of music influences. 'Ode to Dubai' is an original composition inspired by classical composers," he added.

"Aiva learns the art of music composition by reading through an immense collection of music written by the great composers. It then creates an algorithm for the music," underlined the 21-year old Barreau, whose father is a musical producer and mother is a singer. He himself is into music - playing the piano - but he finished computer science in college.


Whilst it took weeks, months or even years for classical composers to create their piece, AI-powered Aiva finished 'Ode to Dubai' in just 72 hours, according to Barreau.

'Ode to Dubai' is a collaboration between DWTC and AIVA Technologies. Barreau, who started his company two years ago, said officials from DWTC approached him three weeks ago to create an anthem for Dubai.

"I created an anthem based on Western classical music and the theme of the piece is all about the exponential growth of Dubai. The piece builds up to a crescendo where you can immerse yourself and feel the meteoric rise of this global city," he said.

Barreau stressed that Aiva is the future of music composition. "AI-composed music can make people feel something. It is capable of composing emotional soundtracks for films, video games, commercials and any type of entertainment content," he added.

But will Aiva replace musicians? "No," replied Barreau, adding: "We are actually nurturing the collaboration between man and machine."

Barreau said there is still human intervention in creating AI-composed music. "After we've selected several AI compositions and after experimenting and reflecting, its still us, humans, who select the final composition which will be digitised or recorded with real musicians," he added.

Meanhwile, Humtap, an AI-music generation app, is expanding its portfolio by adding Arabic and Middle Eastern music.

Tamer Rashad, founderand CEO of Humtap, told Khaleej Times that his company will launch a platformnext week where people create their own Arabic musical compositions.

Humtap uses a hum, melody or tune and turns it into a song based in styles inspired by legendary artists from divergent genres, such as Drake, David Guetta, Travis Scott, Calvin Harris, Depeche Mode and Metallica.

"But beyond creating music, Humtap also offers users a music network and social experience, enabling everyone to connect and interact with one another through music," Rashad said.

"We created Humtap because we believe everyone is creative and enjoys connecting with others through user-generated content," he added.

"All of us are blessed with an expressive voice and we want to empower our users - in any corner of the world - to express themselves and connect with others by providing a seamless, intuitive and ultimately creative experience," he concluded.

angel@khaleejtimes.com


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