Artificial intelligence can imitate the works of Bach so well that you (probably) can’t tell the difference. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself.
The computer-generated music in these samples is the work of DeepBach — a deep learning-powered program created by Gaetan Hadjeres and François Pachet of the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Paris. This is the institution that previously gave us the “world’s first” AI pop song (though that had quite a bit of help from humans) and has used its AI music software FlowMachines to mimic musicians ranging from Mozart to the Beatles.
Now, though, FlowMachines has conquered Bach — and its success says a lot about the current capabilities (and limitations) of current AI.
Deep learning, the method used by FlowMachines and tech companies like Google and Apple, relies on sifting through large amounts of structured data to identify (and later synthesize) patterns. When it comes to applying these methods to music, Bach is a perfect fit. Not only was he incredibly prolific, but his music is consistently structured, following various patterns and formal intricacies that defined Baroque music.