Adobe Unveils GenAI Tools for Music Creation

2024-02-29

Currently, many music editing and composition tools are powered by GenAI, but Adobe hopes to create its own unique features in this field.

At the Hot Pod Summit in Brooklyn, Adobe unveiled Project Music GenAI Control, a platform that generates audio based on text descriptions (such as "happy dance" or "sad jazz") or reference melodies. Users can customize the results in the same workflow, adjusting rhythm, intensity, repetition patterns, and structure. They can even extend the tracks to any length, remix music, or create endless loops.

Project Music GenAI Control is developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of California and Carnegie Mellon University. It is currently in the research stage and does not even have a user interface yet, but it is expected to be publicly released at some point in the future. Gautham Mysore, Director of Audio and Video AI Research at Adobe, stated during a panel discussion at Hot Pod that the tool is generating music while providing users with various forms of control, allowing them to explore various possibilities. Even if you are not a composer, you can express your musical ideas.

With the increasing use of AI in creating music, artworks, and texts, concerns about ethics and legality have also arisen regarding GenAI music tools (as well as broader GenAI tools). Homemade tracks created using GenAI can evoke familiar sounds, lyrics, and voices that can be disguised as real or at least close enough to reality, and they have quickly gained popularity. However, there are still some ambiguities regarding whether "deepfake" music infringes on the intellectual property rights of artists, labels, and other rights holders, especially when using GenAI music tools trained on copyrighted content.

Mysore stated that to avoid potential copyright issues, Adobe typically develops GenAI tools based on data that has been licensed or is in the public domain (although it is currently unclear if this will be the case for Project Music GenAI Control). He added that Adobe is working on watermarking technology to help identify audio produced by Project Music GenAI Control, but he admitted that this work is still ongoing.