Brilliant Interplay between Artificial Intelligence and Arts

Kyogu Lee, Director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Arts (Professor at the Department of Intelligence and Information)

Along with dominant trends of convergence research around the world, Professor Kyogu Lee is leading the emergent field of AI audio technology that combines voice, music, and AI. His insights into the potential coexistence between AI and the arts reveal a trajectory that informs us of the future we will face.

Music and AI, conventionally categorized into two distinct industries, appear less related.
What motivates you to conduct combined research between music and AI?

Music, and to a greater extent language, have been common elements of communication throughout human history. Since the ancient past, the importance of communication through voice has been recognized, while music has been considered to be a by-product of language as well as a form of entertainment. This history offers the grounds for the rapid pace of research into combining music and AI technology. The role of AI already stands out in many cases, including music recognition software that enables users to search for the title of a song by humming the rhythm or melody and algorithms that recommend music based on the tastes of users. As such, I believe the rendezvous between music and AI was natural and my ongoing interest in music and sound, present since childhood, has stimulated me to explore music technology, computer music theory, and acoustics. As a result, I am currently researching human auditory perception and cognitive processes through data-based machine listening, machine learning, and signal processing.

Convergence research is gaining momentum on the world stage.
What do you think of convergent thinking?

Convergence is rooted in communication and can only be accomplished by exceeding limits, respecting diversity, and thinking outside the box, and this is how my research team—the Music and Audio Research Group at the Department of Intelligence and Information—pursues it. In this lab that aims to conduct various studies related to audio and music, researchers from various academic backgrounds engage in communication. For example, students majoring in composition develop deep learning and engineers study the theory of harmony. Despite the variation in research methods depending on the major, all the members including myself share the same enthusiasm for music.

There is some concern that creation and the arts, which have been regarded as an inherent domain of humans,
would yield to AI. There is a further question about the artistry of the products created by AI.

The initial appearance of photos fierce criticism in terms of artistry. The release of “Auto-Tune” software then, initially, shocked the music sphere but was soon widely accepted. Thus, can we now disparage AI photography? Just as Auto-Tune has become a core element in the creation of music by numerous artists and producers, the standards and social viewpoints on art shift over time. Furthermore, music genres have, for some time, been influenced enormously by technology. A new musical instrument called the synthesizer was developed at the interaction between audio signal processing technology and artists, thereby giving birth to electronic music, and more recently, AI technology enabled a full recording of Beethoven’s unfinished Tenth Symphony. However, the issue to wrestle with in the future is how to appreciate art created by AI technology. Despite AI’s capability to create, these tools must be manipulated by humans to formulate appropriate concepts, and thus creative curiosity remains a unique attribute immanent in humans. In the end, humans are the judges as the determination of artistry is naturally left up to the appreciator.

What relationship should we define for the convergence of science and technology and art to promote AI’s coexistence with the arts?

AI is currently praised for surpassing human capabilities in certain fields. However, art is the product of imagination and creativity, rather than data entrance and computation of information. Humans are the sole living creatures that can feel and express beauty through the five senses; they possess a pure instinct to reproduce what they feel from the outside world in light of individual experiences and they are willing to spread these experiences by allowing others to see, hear, and imitate. In this respect, art is a universal means of communication for humanity, which is accomplished when people share what they feel with others to invite empathy and expression. Technologies, including AI, will serve an auxiliary role in enhancing and assisting artists in achieving the completeness of the artistic value intended in their expression, thereby enabling humans to enrich the world of art by pouring their efforts into tasks that require creativity. This direction would take AI technology to a state of coexistence with the arts.