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HearMe - Album

The album HearMe is the product of my complicated relationship with AI over the last 30 years. As an AI-pilled enthusiast turned a worried decelerationist, I created the album while interacting with the app HearMe, which was designed to integrate AI into meaningful human-centered music making, encouraging playing musical instruments, singing, writing lyrics, and maximizing the cognitive, physical, and social benefits of human made music. The songs in the album address anxieties, from mental illness (“Crown of Stars”) and aging (“When 60 Comes”), through political turmoil (“Storm”, “We’re Done”) and climate change (“Autumn Wind”), to concerns about the effect of AI on human agency (“HearMe)”. 

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Q&A

01

How was the app HearMe used in making the album?

When working on a song, I used the app's built-in tools to come up with lyrics and musical ideas, which I played on a piano, guitar, bass, and drums. I would then listen to how the app puts my inputs together, providing me with new musical ideas and instruction on how to play. I would use these ideas to compose and play my own songs.

 

Here is a video demo showing how HearMe is used.

02

How is making music with HearMe different from how have made music in the past?

As a jazz musician, most of my music so far has been in that genre. During the pandemic, my students and I developed a generative AI app to write lyrics to some of my jazz tunes, which lead to the album "Better Late." In HearMe I reversed the process: it is the first time my research has inspired me to write my own lyrics, and to collaborate with AI in composing music to lyrics.

03

Why the name HearMe?

The name reflects the human need to be heard in a world that seems to move towards AI automation. It also refers to the name of a proposal I wrote to fund the project titled “Human Ethics for Advancing Robotic Musical Intelligence” (HEAR MI). 

04

Who are the musicians on the album?

 :

  • Gil Weinberg: piano, keys, guitar, bass, drums and voice in all songs except:

    • Sharon Solly-Weinberg: voice on "Storm", "We're Done", and "Autumn Wind."

    • Guy Tesler: bass on "We're Done."

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