![“Tell it to make a work in the style of [Dmitri] Shostakovich, with strength, vivacity… with metal instruments and percussion, with many dynamic c](https://images.english.elpais.com/resizer/hJkwXVPW-fgp8zSm6xw-ncvr6Og=/1200x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KYNQ4QRDONEPFLHWVGWE264QX4.jpg "Spanish orchestra performs work made with AI for the first time: ‘It was a pastiche’")
Spanish orchestra performs work made with AI for the first time: ‘It was a pastiche’
“Tell it to make a work in the style of [Dmitri] Shostakovich, with strength, vivacity… with metal instruments and percussion, with many dynamic contrasts,” suggests Rocío León, a member of the Symphony Orchestra at RTVE, a state-owned corporation in Spain that manages public radio and television. She’s requesting an artificial intelligence (AI) system to create music from text.
After a few minutes, the machine returns a melody. Something very metallic begins to sound. Suddenly, there’s silence: the tone changes. “It sounds like a village orchestra,” scoffs César Peña, a member of the RTVE Innovation Laboratory. “It understands the heavy metal genre, you can turn it off now,” he adds. “Do you have the essence of Shostakovich?” asks Isabella Rocafull, another member of the lab. “No,” the chatbot answers, without hesitation.
This request was just one more attempt to use AI to create a work for the Symphony Orchestra. So far, the result — just a few minutes long — has not been good.
