Suno, a music generation model like ChatGPT, is capable of creating AI-generated music with both musical and vocal elements.
An artificial intelligence music creator that can quickly create songs with AI-generated music and vocals has raised $125 million, the latest sign of a burgeoning AI arms race in the music industry.
Suno is like ChatGPT for music: users input a phrase or keyword for the song they want to create, and Suno spits out an artificially generated track. The program can generate both music and vocals, a feature only a few other AI generators have developed, including Google and fellow startup Udio.
“We started Suno to build a future where anyone can make music,” Suno co-founder and CEO Mikey Shulman said in a statement, “to help people rediscover the joy of play and exploration they felt as children. Technology is the vehicle for this, and today's cutting-edge technologies create the potential for new sounds, new styles, and new artists to flourish in ways we only ever dreamed possible.”
Investors in the funding round include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, Matrix and Founder Collective, according to Suno's announcement. Suno also has several advisors, including musicians 3lau and Flosstradamus, the company said. Shulman said the company plans to use the funding to “accelerate product development and expand its team of music makers, music lovers and technologists.”
trend
The investment comes at a time of unprecedented AI development in the music industry, raising concerns among industry insiders. Record companies and industry advocates have called for greater regulation to ensure AI models don't use artists' recordings or likenesses without their consent. In a recent Rolling Stone feature on the company, Snow declined to share details about what content the company uses to train its models.
Last month, more than 200 artists, including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, and Pearl Jam, signed an open letter calling on AI companies to stop using their songs to train the technology without their permission. But while there is healthy skepticism about the technology, artists are also testing it. FKA Twigs said earlier this month that she's preparing to release an AI deepfake of herself to engage with her fans online, while country music legend Randy Travis recently used an AI voice clone to release his first song since losing his vocal ability in a near-fatal stroke in 2013.