East London's first "AI-rave" receives mixed reviews

East London nightclub, The Glove That Fits hosted an “AI-rave” named "Algorhythm" last month, to mixed reviews from attendees.

The night used the AI app Mubert to take the role of DJ and music creator and is claimed to be the first party of its kind by its promoter George Pinnegar, the app played AI-generated techno beats — however, it received mixed reviews from AI-ravers.

The event page emphasised that "no track will have ever been played before or will be played again," and that it would be "a rave, but not as you've ever known it before."

Adam Smith from Context reported on the night claiming that there were “15 of us, for a dancefloor capacity of 80” whilst “sitting on a mixing board, was an old Android smartphone.”

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Speaking to the AI-ravers, Smith claims that one person described the music as “just a generic bop” whilst another said the music was “dry” and “empty”.

"When you're having a really good night at a rave, it's because the DJ is guiding you through a journey," Anna-Laura, a 26 year-old AI researcher from Imperial College London, told Smith.

"You're a part of a unique consciousness, but with an AI you do not see that happening," she explained.

"It could be more complex," said AI master's student and "Algorhythm" party-goer Rose Cuthbertson. "It doesn't have that knowledge of maybe other electronic genres that could make the music more interesting. But it's still fun to dance to."

However, computer programmer, Pietro Capece Galeota said: "It's been doing a pretty good job so far".

"If we can have AI make beautiful music and we can play that to each other, I think that's probably why it's there. That’s why it's a gift," Algorhythm promoter George Pinnegar told Reuters.

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The AI app used on the night - Mubert - was created by a team of Ukrainian and Russian developers and uses human-made loops and samples to create new music.

Users of the app can choose to like or dislike the music that Mubert creates so that it can understand habits and adapt accordingly to the user's taste.

The people who have made samples that get used by Mubert get royalties from when their sound is used.

The CEO of Mubert, Paul Zgordan explains: “We want to save musicians' jobs, but in our own way,".

"We want to save musicians' jobs, but in our own way," he adds.

"There is no ChatGPT for music because music is more complex," he said. "For now technology is not ready."

[Via: Reuters]

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Video and Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter