TikTok Explores Innovative Feature Harnessing AI to Craft Musical Creations

In a recent development, TikTok, the popular social media platform, has confirmed its testing of an intriguing new feature called "AI Song." This experimental functionality leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate songs based on user prompts. However, it's important to note that AI Song is intended for entertainment purposes rather than aiming to produce the next viral hit.

According to information provided by the company to TechCrunch, AI Song utilizes a sophisticated language model known as Bloom to craft lyrics based on text prompts. These lyrics are then combined with music sourced from a curated catalog within the TikTok platform.

TikTok user Jonah Manzano has shared a comprehensive walkthrough video, shedding light on the inner workings of this innovative feature. The clip reveals that AI Song prompts users to enter a specific phrase or idea to initiate the song generation process. While TikTok offers a range of suggested prompts like "Going to concerts," "A new beginning," and "Cuddling with pets," users also have the freedom to input their own ideas. Once a prompt is entered, the app proceeds to generate a unique song based on that input.

Within a matter of seconds, the app generates lyrics that revolve around the given prompt, pairing them with suitable musical accompaniment. Users can further customize the song's vibe by selecting from various genres such as "pop," "EDM," and "Hip-hop." The end result is an intriguing composition, blending unconventional lyrics with the original text prompt.

As emphasized in the video, TikTok has outlined certain guidelines that must be followed when using AI Song. These guidelines prohibit the exploitation or harm of minors, the dissemination of false or harmful personal information, as well as defamatory, impersonating, or harassing behavior.

As with any experimental feature, it remains uncertain when, or even if, AI Song will be made available to a wider audience. TikTok has indicated that the feature's name might also undergo changes in the future, reflecting their commitment to refinement and improvement.

It's worth mentioning that TikTok is not the only platform offering tools to empower users in creating music for short-form videos. Just a few months ago, YouTube introduced its "Dream Track" feature, enabling creators to construct 30-second AI-generated soundtracks. This feature even allows users to create tracks in the styles of renowned artists such as Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Sia, T-Pain, Troye Sivan, and Papoose.

Interestingly, while TikTok's AI Song feature caters to a distinct purpose and audience, its parent company, ByteDance, launched a free-to-use music production app named Ripple in the United States last June. Ripple functions as a portable smart digital audio workstation, facilitating musicians in creating and editing audio. By singing or humming into the app, users can employ machine learning to expand their melody into a full-fledged instrumental song. The app's model has been trained on licensed or ByteDance-owned music, and it offers convenient audio recording, cutting, trimming, and editing capabilities on mobile devices.

The introduction of the AI Song feature aligns with TikTok's continued foray into the music industry. Last year, the platform debuted its subscription-based music streaming service, "TikTok Music," in select countries, setting its sights on competition with established players such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Although TikTok has yet to divulge specific details regarding the launch of the streaming service in the United States, it's worth noting that ByteDance filed a trademark application for "TikTok Music" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over a year ago. This suggests that a U.S. launch may be on the horizon, offering users an enhanced musical experience within the TikTok ecosystem.