YouTube Is Experimenting With AI-Generated Music Remixes for Creators

YouTube is tapping into generative AI and prompt engineering to allow creators to effortlessly remix songs for their Shorts, The Verge reports.

While remixing typically requires a great deal of production finesse, the platform’s new AI feature, currently in beta, lets creators easily “restyle” licensed music into punchy 30-second clips. Testers chosen to participate can reportedly take their pick from a library of eligible tracks before forming a prompt, which reworks various elements of the music.

“These restyled soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled with AI,” according to YouTube.

The new feature is an expansion of YouTube’s AI-powered “Dream Track” experiment, which empowers creators to legally utilize the AI-generated voices of artists such as Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend and more. The specific songs available to beta testers have not yet been made clear, nor have the record labels with whom YouTube is partnering.

However, YouTube is engaging in discussions with the three major record labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group, to pay “lump sums of cash” in exchange for the rights to train their AI models on the companies’ music, according to a report by the Financial Times.

YouTube has not yet revealed plans to publicly roll out the new generative AI feature at the time of this writing.