MUSAiC was an interdisciplinary research project confronting questions and challenges at the frontier of the disruption of music by the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI). It aimed to analyze, criticize and fundamentally broaden the transformation of three interrelated music practices: 1) listening, 2) composition and performance, and 3) analysis and criticism. How does the involvement of AI change the way people listen to and consume music? How is AI changing the ways people create music? How do people talk about and value music generated with AI? As music constitutes a significant portion of culture as well as economies around the world, investigating these questions helps society prepare for the impacts of technological innovation, e.g. by informing government (regulation), academic research (methodology), industry (evaluation), and citizens (ethics). The first objective of MUSAiC was to survey the cultural impact and criticism of the development and application of AI, especially within creative practices of music. The second objective was to develop "music pedagogy for machines", which includes developing and evaluating AI systems. The third objective was to develop and explore novel co-creative partnerships with AI systems. Since the questions and challenges addressed by MUSAiC are situated at the intersections of music and technology, the project involved rich collaborations between a variety of disciplines: engineering and computer science, musicology and ethnomusicology, law, social science, and computer music. MUSAiC was humanistic in the sense that it focused on how AI is impacting culture and cultural production. MUSAiC was scientific in the sense that it answers fundamental questions about the nature of music and technology.
The conclusions of MUSAiC include numerous academic publications, special journal issues, music albums and performances, conferences and workshops, blog posts, media coverage and concerts. MUSAiC founded a new discipline responding to the shifting landscape of AI in music: "AI Music Studies". In December 2024, the project hosted "The First International Conference in AI Music Studies", attended by 60 academics from around the world, and featuring 27 talks, panel discussions, and a public concert. While the engineering of AI for music is focused on specific aspects to deliver "solutions" to "problems" (e.g. music composition), AI Music Studies aims to deliver a holistic and critical treatment of the technology and its broad implications for music, and culture more broadly.
