SSP Forum: Ge Wang on Music & AI

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg. 460), Room 126

Music & AI: What Do We (Really) Want?

Ge Wang
Music Department

Tuesday, April 11, 2023
4:30-5:20 pm
Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg. 460), Room 126

ABSTRACT:

How do we (want to) make music with artificial intelligence? What does it mean to do so--and is it even a good idea? How might we artfully design tools and systems that balance machine automation and human interaction? More broadly, how do we want to live with our technologies? Are there—and ought there be—limits to using AI for art? (And what is Art, anyway?) In this presentation, we will pose some of these critical questions in music and AI. As a case study, we will unpack what we learned from teaching "Music and AI", a critical-making course at Stanford (Music 356 / CS 470), and ponder the power of human creativity in regarding AI not as an "oracle", but as a tool for creative expression.

BIO:

Ge Wang is an Associate Professor at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). He researches the artful design of tools, toys, games, musical instruments, programming languages, expressive VR experiences, and interactive AI systems with humans in the loop. Ge is the architect of the ChucK audio programming language, the director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra and the Stanford VR Design Lab. He is the Co-founder of Smule and the designer of the Ocarina and Magic Piano apps for mobile phones. A 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Ge is the author of /Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime/, a photo comic book about how we shape technology -- and how technology shapes us.

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