2023-11-17 03:48:00
With a small computer and artificial intelligence (AI) software, Chilean producer Mauricio Bustos managed to create an unprecedented musical collaboration: a trio between Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee that quickly became among the most listened to on Spotify.
In the song “Demo 5: NostalgIA”which has a nod in its title to the technology of the moment and in its lyrics recalls a lost love, Bustos transformed his voice to imitate his musical references.
The result was surprising: in a few weeks it was among the 100 most listened to on Spotify; It became viral on social networks and caused public anger from Bad Bunny himself.
«If you like that shit song that is viral on TikTok, get out of this group right now. “You don’t deserve to be my friends,” the Puerto Rican singer launched in his official WhatsApp group.
The fury gave even more impetus to this song, written entirely by the Chilean producer, who imitates Bad Bunny’s voice and then, through the use of artificial intelligence, transforms the timbre of the Puerto Rican performer’s voice.
«I dreamed of Bad Bunny inviting me to a remix of his song and now it’s the other way around. “With this technology I can play Bad Bunny,” Bustos tells the AFP agency, in the room of the house where he lives with his mother in the center of Santiago.
In this place, together with a small personal computer, this controversial artistic creation was born, which has also opened a debate about the scope of AI and copyright.
Synthetic Artist
Bustos, 30, began dabbling in music more than a decade ago, especially in reggaeton. When he learned about Kits, a technological tool that allows you to modify your voice, he knew it could revolutionize music.
“I started talking to my brother and we came to the conclusion that it would be innovative to develop the first singer who uses this technology artistically, because everyone uses it as ‘memes’ or to get artists to sing other artists’ songs,” says the Chilean composer.
Bustos adds that he wanted to “give it one more spin and develop a new artist called “Flow GPT.”
In May of this year he published his first song under this pseudonym, in reference to the famous artificial intelligence interface ChatGPT but giving the acronym a new meaning: “Pretrained Temazos Generator.”
Since then he has imitated the voices of several urban artists such as Anuel, Ozuna or Rauw Alejandro and musical legends such as Luis Miguel or Gustavo Cerati.
But Bustos clarifies that the compositions, melodies and imitation of the style of each of the singers are their artistic creation.
“The voice is still my voice, only a filter is applied to it and the timbre of the voice changes and becomes similar to that of the artist (…) this is not magic,” he stated.
In May of this year, Spotify deleted tens of thousands of songs produced thanks to the Boomy platform, a site that allows you to create songs with artificial intelligence. “NostalgIA” suffered the same fate shortly after, but a new version was re-released on Wednesday replacing Bad Bunny with J Balvin.
In Chile there is no regulation on the use of these tools in music, according to lawyer María José Marabit, an intellectual property specialist at the Catholic University.
“It is not regulated (…) there is no law that imposes anything in this case,” says Marabit, for whom it is also not clear whether there could be a lawsuit from the original artists.
Other singers, whose voices were also imitated with artificial intelligence, such as Drake and The Weeknd, have also shown their annoyance at the use of this technology.
But Bustos does not fear reprisals.
“If a billionaire known all over the world decides to take such an action against someone who has not even generated (money) with the song (…) it would be an abuse,” says the Chilean singer.
His next step is to organize a tour to show the work he does and be able to sign a record contract, because he is convinced that “Flow GPT is the future of music.”
AFP
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