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A song that uses AI to clone the voices of Drake and The Weeknd has gone viral

77 points by mellosouls 4y ago

takinola 4y ago
Has anyone actually verified that the song was generated by AI? It should be trivial for a good singer to mimic the voice and style of a famous artist and claim it is AI as a way to get some notoriety.
mellosouls 4y ago
The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VszJPLAtK0U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VszJPLAtK0U A couple of other interesting examples also linked in the article.
epiccoleman 4y ago
This is by far the best AI generated music I've heard yet, and marks the first moment where I started feeling some worry that this stuff is coming for music too. Up til now, I've been convinced (foolishly, maybe) that there was something special about music that AI just wasn't going to be able to do well. Now, I'm not so sure. I think modern popular hip hop is probably an easy target - the music itself is relatively simple, and especially for an absolute chart-destroying monster like Drake, there's a huge amount of singing / rapping / voice to use as training data. I'm somewhat more skeptical on genres that involve complex instrumental playing and more dynamic vocal performances, but I think this track sounding so convincing is evidence that we're making big strides. On the other hand, there's something about music that I truly don't think AI can touch, and that's this sort of undefined "cool" factor. I'm a rock / metal guy, and there's something just awesome to me about a group of guys up on stage rocking out, but the cool factor is definitely a big part of hip hop too. Last thought - I'm not sure if this song is as good as I think it is, because I don't really listen to Drake. I recently ran across an AI generated Nirvana song, which was also pretty well done - but it was still just on the edge of the uncanny valley for me. Maybe big Drake fans would feel the same way about this, idk.
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  The interesting thing about AI is that if you would've asked me 5 years ago - I thought the absolute last jobs AI would impact would be art related. Now it looks like it might be one of the first. The mixing in the song is quite bad and the melody could use a little human touch, but if someone remastered this - it could be a hit!
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    The absolute last jobs to be automated by AI will be those that require highly flexible sensorimotor skills, demand real time reactions, and involve significant risks. Like even right now trains could be 100% automated easily. But the risk involved of transporting so many humans that could die if something goes wrong in a freak scenario, and the material damage of derailing a train makes a human supervisor/driver quite viable.
    - globular-toast 4y ago
      The last jobs to be automated are those that people want to be done by a human. Think healthcare and sex.
      - moffkalast 4y ago
        I don't want healthcare done by people, they're expensive, hard to get a hold of, and make lots of mistakes. Can't wait to have it all automated.
    - vanilla_nut 4y ago
      A lot of light rail and subway systems are entirely automated today. As far as I know, most of the systems that haven't automated conductor work are either grandfathered into union negotiations that preserve those positions or haven't been able to justify the cost yet.
  - brookst 4y ago
    I've also been surprised that AI had hit art first, but in hindsight it makes sense. The AI we have now is imprecise, which is neutral to good for art, bad for sciences.
PartiallyTyped 4y ago
Are artists able to copywrite their voice? Are we heading for a bureaucratic nightmare? If I find an artist to be questionable, it is "ethical" to consume generated music of this nature based on their prior work? Are we on top of a slippery slope and going downhill towards the obvious next steps? Can we even trust anything at this point?
- brookst 4y ago
  > Can we even trust anything at this point? No, and I feel badly for anyone who thinks that is a new thing. See: Milli Vanilli
broof 4y ago
Note that a guy wrote this song, recorded himself, and had an ai transfer his voice to drake/weekend. That combined with auto tune definitely hides any uncanny valley
jerojero 4y ago
If doubles are not a copyright infringement then using AI to "double" someone should be in a similar category, no?
- brookst 4y ago
  I'm not sure that follows. Laws are rarely based on platonic principles that can be extrapolated from the smallest topic to the biggest with complete logical consistency. In this case, the protections afforded by IP law for music and right of publicity for people are pretty different, and it would be a mistake to assume perfect coherence between the two. That a feature, not a bug.
SilverBirch 4y ago
I mean... it wouldn't be a crazy idea for an artist who wants a viral moment to just release a song claiming it was written by AI... It's like when Kodak decided to do an ICO.
awb 4y ago
I used to sell art in an upscale art gallery. People bought pieces rarely for aesthetic, but mostly for the story. They want to feel a connection to human greatness and deep emotion. While this music is technically impressive, I stopped listening 30 seconds in. The story behind the art is one of technical engineering. There’s no connection between the listener and the original artists. It’s the same reason an absolutely impressive forgery is worth nothing and the original is priceless: authenticity is important.
- bicijay 4y ago
  Hmm im gonna disagree here. This song is actually good and veery similar to other 100s of hip hop songs released daily.
- morkalork 4y ago
  Drake is a child actor from a well off family. There's nothing authentic about him or any other top pop artist from autotune to ghostwriters. Their stories are of music label hit factories.
  - nradov 4y ago
    It's like how Kid Rock tries to project the image of a redneck shitkicker when in reality his father was a wealthy car dealership owner and he grew up in a suburban mansion. But the image sells and the fans are loyal.
    - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
      Remember how he pandered to entrepaneurs before that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYI957ge4c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYI957ge4c
  - jletienne 4y ago
    idk about well off, his mother was an english teacher not a hedge fund exec. nothing wrong with hiring people. If you dislike autotune and pop music, i think that’s valid. but it’s really a function of artists responding to consumer preference. there are plenty of high quality niche artists who don’t have the mainstream appeal or success
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ev0lv 4y ago
I've been really getting into AI generated music. I see this as something that's going to get much better rather quickly. Here are my two favorites: https://youtu.be/uWuxdH02U9o https://youtu.be/uWuxdH02U9o https://youtu.be/k85boKH1WYk https://youtu.be/k85boKH1WYk
redleggedfrog 4y ago
Meh. Not interesting from a human standpoint. What possible insights into the human condition can such a Frankenstein's monster of AI give me? What has the AI been through that informs its "art." I can't relate to the AI, I cannot empathize with it, I don't identify with it. Same goes for what an AI might write that isn't technical information I might make use of. Same goes for images. Simply I don't care what "art" might come from AI because there is no human involved. I'm a human - I want human things, not things that undermine my humanity.
- bicijay 4y ago
  To summarize: Song goes boom boom in a nice rhythm. And i like good boom booms.
- fauxpause_ 4y ago
  One day you’ll hear a song, say you like it and learned something from it, and then learned it was from an AI.
  - epolanski 4y ago
    +1. Also people way underrate how little there has always been in any form of art that wasn't simply copy-pasting or data-driven and that includes most of the content we consume, but especially modern tv/movies/music.
    - redleggedfrog 4y ago
      Which is why I literally ignore 99.99% of what comes down the shit pipes.
      - epolanski 4y ago
        I have no social network besides this and occasionally LinkedIn (which is a circus, I don't know how popular reddit here is but holy look at the content people you know write on /r/LinkedInLunatics) and it's good. It even came to most media, I don't like it. It's all exaggerated. The biggest stars in all sports rising at such peaks is so many fields just in those very years, it's all exaggerated. It even comes to what people are aroused from , but it's getting worse and worse and exaggerated and all the way we consume we eventually give data to what they will produce to distract us all. Music, sports, porn, politics, news, it feels like tension boiling and we vote also with what we click and care for. Peace.
xwdv 4y ago
I want someone to do a whole Tupac album of AI generated songs, call it “Tupac is AlIve”. Tupac is an artist who has managed to come back from the dead several times, even as a Hologram. I think he’d be fine with it.
kleiba 4y ago
Forgive me, I'm old, but "music" like that is why I could never be a person entrusted with state secrets.
jimmyjazz14 4y ago
To me this says less about how impressive AI has become and more about how low the bar for music has gotten these days. Franky its not a very good song but most stuff by Drake and the Weeknd is so bland and commoditized that it can easily pass as there stuff.
circlefavshape 4y ago
This is a threat for singers, not for songwriters. If I can get a great vocal on my songs without having to pay hundreds (or thousands) to someone on soundbetter than that's good for me (but very bad for the people with good voices who I've always been jealous of)
- circlefavshape 4y ago
  Ahem ... so can anyone give me a brief outline of how this might be done? Having good vocalists/rappers at my disposal would be an absolute godsend for me (good enough for demos, doesn't have to be good enough to release)
  - jletienne 4y ago
    just buy cla vocals and waves autotune (tune real-time) from waves. it uses automated parameters to “fix” your voice downvotes incoming from real musicians and audio engineers but for less than 100 bucks you can get your vocals 80% of the way there. imo it’s amazing for songwriting
- jletienne 4y ago
  i’m of then opinion it’s the other way around. with better technology you can get better reference tracks and push your artistic limits. you’ll be able to create more music as a result. and get clearer feedback on the end result imo the mixing engineers are better used to make your ideal vision stronger. also make the drums hit and ensure the guitar doesn’t clash. if you just use them to make vocals sound pleasant, it’s going to be less valuable
seydor 4y ago
What about synthetic voices? any real good ones
- chucksta 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku is huge in Japan
- shtack 4y ago
  Eleven Labs is the best I've found for speech, not sure about singing. Open to alternative suggestions.
cronix 4y ago
Here's part of another song (and interview) that was mentioned (David Guetta with AI Eminem voice): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40lOIZLUACU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40lOIZLUACU My question: do you own the likeness of your own voice? How does this differ from a very good impressionist?
deebosong 4y ago
Reminds me of that anime from Shinichiro Watanabe: Carole & Tuesday. I just heard a remix of Jay-Z & Kanye's "Ni*as in Paris," with Biggie as Jay and 2pac as Ye. The AI voice-swap sounded 95-98% like Biggie & Pac. But it did highlight how the flows & cadence of Jay & Ye are their own, while Biggie & Pac have their unique deliveries as well. It didn't necessarily instill in me a sense of fear for artists in the future, or inspire me to want to find the best songs & musicians & rappers to use this tech out on, or anything like that. But it was well-executed, and illuminated other aspects of these artists beyond the very recognizable tone & pronunciation from each respective artist. I always thought Biggie had the best flow. His delivery almost has that slightly-off-beat drag, even if he can pretty much self-quantize if he wants to (like in Notorious Thugs). Maybe these AI remixers will hone in on such details soon enough, sort of quantize the deliveries in such a way to be purposefully off-beat and unusual (almost like a Dilla beat with his signature style that makes it a point to be off-the-grid so to speak).
WhereIsTheTruth 4y ago
"Viral"? really? 177,951 views Apr 15, 2023 (with press coverage) Wow, viral! /s Impressive project, don't get me wrong!, I'm just annoyed by the press.. I wish they'd raise their standard of quality and honesty.
- dontreact 4y ago
  For context: even if you were able to do this regularly, it still likely wouldn't be enough to make a living as an artist.
- dvngnt_ 4y ago
  tiktok views put it over 14 million views
oars 4y ago
Can't wait to see where the industry goes.

77 points by mellosouls 4y ago

Has anyone actually verified that the song was generated by AI? It should be trivial for a good singer to mimic the voice and style of a famous artist and claim it is AI as a way to get some notoriety.

mellosouls 4y ago

The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VszJPLAtK0U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VszJPLAtK0U A couple of other interesting examples also linked in the article.

epiccoleman 4y ago

This is by far the best AI generated music I've heard yet, and marks the first moment where I started feeling some worry that this stuff is coming for music too. Up til now, I've been convinced (foolishly, maybe) that there was something special about music that AI just wasn't going to be able to do well. Now, I'm not so sure. I think modern popular hip hop is probably an easy target - the music itself is relatively simple, and especially for an absolute chart-destroying monster like Drake, there's a huge amount of singing / rapping / voice to use as training data. I'm somewhat more skeptical on genres that involve complex instrumental playing and more dynamic vocal performances, but I think this track sounding so convincing is evidence that we're making big strides. On the other hand, there's something about music that I truly don't think AI can touch, and that's this sort of undefined "cool" factor. I'm a rock / metal guy, and there's something just awesome to me about a group of guys up on stage rocking out, but the cool factor is definitely a big part of hip hop too. Last thought - I'm not sure if this song is as good as I think it is, because I don't really listen to Drake. I recently ran across an AI generated Nirvana song, which was also pretty well done - but it was still just on the edge of the uncanny valley for me. Maybe big Drake fans would feel the same way about this, idk.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
The interesting thing about AI is that if you would've asked me 5 years ago - I thought the absolute last jobs AI would impact would be art related. Now it looks like it might be one of the first. The mixing in the song is quite bad and the melody could use a little human touch, but if someone remastered this - it could be a hit!
- moffkalast 4y ago
  The absolute last jobs to be automated by AI will be those that require highly flexible sensorimotor skills, demand real time reactions, and involve significant risks. Like even right now trains could be 100% automated easily. But the risk involved of transporting so many humans that could die if something goes wrong in a freak scenario, and the material damage of derailing a train makes a human supervisor/driver quite viable.
  - globular-toast 4y ago
    The last jobs to be automated are those that people want to be done by a human. Think healthcare and sex.
    - moffkalast 4y ago
      I don't want healthcare done by people, they're expensive, hard to get a hold of, and make lots of mistakes. Can't wait to have it all automated.
  - vanilla_nut 4y ago
    A lot of light rail and subway systems are entirely automated today. As far as I know, most of the systems that haven't automated conductor work are either grandfathered into union negotiations that preserve those positions or haven't been able to justify the cost yet.
- brookst 4y ago
  I've also been surprised that AI had hit art first, but in hindsight it makes sense. The AI we have now is imprecise, which is neutral to good for art, bad for sciences.

PartiallyTyped 4y ago

Are artists able to copywrite their voice? Are we heading for a bureaucratic nightmare? If I find an artist to be questionable, it is "ethical" to consume generated music of this nature based on their prior work? Are we on top of a slippery slope and going downhill towards the obvious next steps? Can we even trust anything at this point?

brookst 4y ago
> Can we even trust anything at this point? No, and I feel badly for anyone who thinks that is a new thing. See: Milli Vanilli

broof 4y ago

Note that a guy wrote this song, recorded himself, and had an ai transfer his voice to drake/weekend. That combined with auto tune definitely hides any uncanny valley

jerojero 4y ago

If doubles are not a copyright infringement then using AI to "double" someone should be in a similar category, no?

brookst 4y ago
I'm not sure that follows. Laws are rarely based on platonic principles that can be extrapolated from the smallest topic to the biggest with complete logical consistency. In this case, the protections afforded by IP law for music and right of publicity for people are pretty different, and it would be a mistake to assume perfect coherence between the two. That a feature, not a bug.

SilverBirch 4y ago

I mean... it wouldn't be a crazy idea for an artist who wants a viral moment to just release a song claiming it was written by AI... It's like when Kodak decided to do an ICO.

awb 4y ago

I used to sell art in an upscale art gallery. People bought pieces rarely for aesthetic, but mostly for the story. They want to feel a connection to human greatness and deep emotion. While this music is technically impressive, I stopped listening 30 seconds in. The story behind the art is one of technical engineering. There’s no connection between the listener and the original artists. It’s the same reason an absolutely impressive forgery is worth nothing and the original is priceless: authenticity is important.

bicijay 4y ago
Hmm im gonna disagree here. This song is actually good and veery similar to other 100s of hip hop songs released daily.
morkalork 4y ago
Drake is a child actor from a well off family. There's nothing authentic about him or any other top pop artist from autotune to ghostwriters. Their stories are of music label hit factories.
- nradov 4y ago
  It's like how Kid Rock tries to project the image of a redneck shitkicker when in reality his father was a wealthy car dealership owner and he grew up in a suburban mansion. But the image sells and the fans are loyal.
  - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
    Remember how he pandered to entrepaneurs before that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYI957ge4c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYI957ge4c
- jletienne 4y ago
  idk about well off, his mother was an english teacher not a hedge fund exec. nothing wrong with hiring people. If you dislike autotune and pop music, i think that’s valid. but it’s really a function of artists responding to consumer preference. there are plenty of high quality niche artists who don’t have the mainstream appeal or success

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ev0lv 4y ago

I've been really getting into AI generated music. I see this as something that's going to get much better rather quickly. Here are my two favorites: https://youtu.be/uWuxdH02U9o https://youtu.be/uWuxdH02U9o https://youtu.be/k85boKH1WYk https://youtu.be/k85boKH1WYk

redleggedfrog 4y ago

Meh. Not interesting from a human standpoint. What possible insights into the human condition can such a Frankenstein's monster of AI give me? What has the AI been through that informs its "art." I can't relate to the AI, I cannot empathize with it, I don't identify with it. Same goes for what an AI might write that isn't technical information I might make use of. Same goes for images. Simply I don't care what "art" might come from AI because there is no human involved. I'm a human - I want human things, not things that undermine my humanity.

bicijay 4y ago
To summarize: Song goes boom boom in a nice rhythm. And i like good boom booms.
fauxpause_ 4y ago
One day you’ll hear a song, say you like it and learned something from it, and then learned it was from an AI.
- epolanski 4y ago
  +1. Also people way underrate how little there has always been in any form of art that wasn't simply copy-pasting or data-driven and that includes most of the content we consume, but especially modern tv/movies/music.
  - redleggedfrog 4y ago
    Which is why I literally ignore 99.99% of what comes down the shit pipes.
    - epolanski 4y ago
      I have no social network besides this and occasionally LinkedIn (which is a circus, I don't know how popular reddit here is but holy look at the content people you know write on /r/LinkedInLunatics) and it's good. It even came to most media, I don't like it. It's all exaggerated. The biggest stars in all sports rising at such peaks is so many fields just in those very years, it's all exaggerated. It even comes to what people are aroused from , but it's getting worse and worse and exaggerated and all the way we consume we eventually give data to what they will produce to distract us all. Music, sports, porn, politics, news, it feels like tension boiling and we vote also with what we click and care for. Peace.

xwdv 4y ago

I want someone to do a whole Tupac album of AI generated songs, call it “Tupac is AlIve”. Tupac is an artist who has managed to come back from the dead several times, even as a Hologram. I think he’d be fine with it.

kleiba 4y ago

Forgive me, I'm old, but "music" like that is why I could never be a person entrusted with state secrets.

jimmyjazz14 4y ago

To me this says less about how impressive AI has become and more about how low the bar for music has gotten these days. Franky its not a very good song but most stuff by Drake and the Weeknd is so bland and commoditized that it can easily pass as there stuff.

circlefavshape 4y ago

This is a threat for singers, not for songwriters. If I can get a great vocal on my songs without having to pay hundreds (or thousands) to someone on soundbetter than that's good for me (but very bad for the people with good voices who I've always been jealous of)

circlefavshape 4y ago
Ahem ... so can anyone give me a brief outline of how this might be done? Having good vocalists/rappers at my disposal would be an absolute godsend for me (good enough for demos, doesn't have to be good enough to release)
- jletienne 4y ago
  just buy cla vocals and waves autotune (tune real-time) from waves. it uses automated parameters to “fix” your voice downvotes incoming from real musicians and audio engineers but for less than 100 bucks you can get your vocals 80% of the way there. imo it’s amazing for songwriting
jletienne 4y ago
i’m of then opinion it’s the other way around. with better technology you can get better reference tracks and push your artistic limits. you’ll be able to create more music as a result. and get clearer feedback on the end result imo the mixing engineers are better used to make your ideal vision stronger. also make the drums hit and ensure the guitar doesn’t clash. if you just use them to make vocals sound pleasant, it’s going to be less valuable

seydor 4y ago

What about synthetic voices? any real good ones

chucksta 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku is huge in Japan
shtack 4y ago
Eleven Labs is the best I've found for speech, not sure about singing. Open to alternative suggestions.

cronix 4y ago

Here's part of another song (and interview) that was mentioned (David Guetta with AI Eminem voice): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40lOIZLUACU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40lOIZLUACU My question: do you own the likeness of your own voice? How does this differ from a very good impressionist?

deebosong 4y ago

Reminds me of that anime from Shinichiro Watanabe: Carole & Tuesday. I just heard a remix of Jay-Z & Kanye's "Ni*as in Paris," with Biggie as Jay and 2pac as Ye. The AI voice-swap sounded 95-98% like Biggie & Pac. But it did highlight how the flows & cadence of Jay & Ye are their own, while Biggie & Pac have their unique deliveries as well. It didn't necessarily instill in me a sense of fear for artists in the future, or inspire me to want to find the best songs & musicians & rappers to use this tech out on, or anything like that. But it was well-executed, and illuminated other aspects of these artists beyond the very recognizable tone & pronunciation from each respective artist. I always thought Biggie had the best flow. His delivery almost has that slightly-off-beat drag, even if he can pretty much self-quantize if he wants to (like in Notorious Thugs). Maybe these AI remixers will hone in on such details soon enough, sort of quantize the deliveries in such a way to be purposefully off-beat and unusual (almost like a Dilla beat with his signature style that makes it a point to be off-the-grid so to speak).

WhereIsTheTruth 4y ago

"Viral"? really? 177,951 views Apr 15, 2023 (with press coverage) Wow, viral! /s Impressive project, don't get me wrong!, I'm just annoyed by the press.. I wish they'd raise their standard of quality and honesty.

dontreact 4y ago
For context: even if you were able to do this regularly, it still likely wouldn't be enough to make a living as an artist.
dvngnt_ 4y ago
tiktok views put it over 14 million views

oars 4y ago

Can't wait to see where the industry goes.