AI ‘Bot Dylan’ Computer Composer Creates Over 100,000 New Folk Songs

“Bot Dylan,” an A.I. music composer, has created over 100,000 new folks songs after studying 23,000 tradition Irish tunes.

By studying 23,000 Irish folk songs, the A.I. was able to learn the patterns and structures of the genre, before creating its own based on their tradition layouts, according to The Daily Mail.

“We didn’t expect any of the machine-generated melodies to be very good,” said Dr. Oded Ben-Tal, a senior lecturer in music technology at Kingston University in London, where the A.I. was created. “But we, and several other musicians we worked with, were really surprised at the quality of the music the system created.”

“People are reluctant to believe machines can be creative – it’s seen as a very human trait,” he continued. “However, the fact of the matter is, technology and creativity have been interconnected for a long time and this is just another step in that direction.”

Ben-Tal also claimed that the system could be used by human musicians to plan their own compositions in the future.

“For beginners, a system like this would help get you started and avoid the intimidating aspect of composing your own tune as you could work interactively together,” Ben-Tal explained. “An experienced composer could work with the system to generate new ideas by using their own musical concepts as a starting point. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for music making.”