YouTube's latest AI experiment lets you turn text into a John Legend song

Yesterday YouTube announced that Premium subscribers would be able to get access to both its AI chatbot and generative AI tool for summarizing comment sections. But that wasn’t the only AI news the site had to share, apparently. The platform is also launching some AI tools for music-centric creators to play with.

In a blog post, YouTube announced it was introducing a new experimental AI tool for YouTube Shorts called Dream Track. The company says the tool uses “Google DeepMind’s most advanced music generation model to date, Lyria.” It has also partnered with nine artists for the experiment, including Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Papoose, Sia, T-Pain, and Troye Sivan.

Dream Track will reportedly allow a small group of US creators to type out an idea into a creation prompt and choose from a carousel of artists. The tool will then turn that text into a 30-second Shorts soundtrack featuring an AI-generated voice of that chosen artist.

In addition to Dream Track, YouTube says it is also working on a set of AI tools that could bolster the creative process. One example it provided was creating a new guitar riff just by humming it. The company also suggested the possibility of using the tool to shift genres, like taking a pop song and giving it “a reggaeton feel.”

YouTube equates its AI innovation with the emergence of the synthesizer, which it says “changed the face of electronic and rock music.” But the crucial difference between that and this is a synthesizer can’t be used to capture the talent of someone else and potentially capitalize off of it.