Freesound In The Era Of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Opening and closing paragraphs from the Freesound blog.

Opening Paragraph

In recent years, the phrase Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of our everyday conversations. In particular, since the explosion of generative AI models like ChatGPT or other models that can generate high-quality audio (e.g. AudioGen, AudioLDM 2, and Stable Audio Open, which has just been released and is trained with Freesound sounds), AI systems have demonstrated being capable of doing things which were unimaginable only some years ago. We don’t know how AI will impact society at large, but it is very clear that AI is here to stay and that it will more and more become an important element in our lives. This is raising concerns, for example, within the artistic community, AI can be seen as a potential threat to the way in which many artists make their living, and one that questions the values of effort, skill and creativity. Concerns about the potential impact of AI on a platform like Freesound have also been expressed in the Freesound forums. Here, at the Music Technology Group of Universitat Pompeu Fabra where Freesound happens, we have also been discussing such concerns. 

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Closing Paragraph

The overall question is how to use and integrate AI technology in a way that benefits the Freesound community, and this is what we are starting to address with this blog post. At the Music Technology Group, we conduct cutting-edge AI research while considering its social, economic, legal, ethical, cultural, and artistic implications. Research is being carried out, not only by us but also by many other research institutions, which provides new ways to address the threats raised by AI, contributing to a fair and responsible AI. And, again, Freesound is a very important resource for such research. In a similar way in which Freesound became a great example of a sound-sharing ecosystem based on Creative Commons licences, we have the opportunity now to become an inspiring example of how AI can be used to empower a community and to articulate positive experiences for sound practitioners alike.