Sing It, Sister! Maya Ackerman on LyricStudio, an AI-Based Writing Assistant

by Angie Lee

Lennon and McCartney. Ashford and Simpson. Many of our all-time favorite tunes have come from songwriting duos. Now, anyone can find a canny compositional partner in AI.

Maya Ackerman is the CEO of WaveAI, a Silicon Valley startup using AI and machine learning to, as the company motto puts it, “unlock new heights of human creative expression.”

She spoke with NVIDIA AI Podcast host Noah Kravitz about WaveAI’s LyricStudio software, an AI-based lyric and poetry writing assistant.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • On LyricStudio, users first specify a topic or genre for their work. Then begins an interactive process where the software comes up with original lines that writers can use or edit. Suggested lines can also simply serve as ideas to spur one’s inventiveness.
  • The software uses AI to make suggestions catered to the style and rhythm of a piece — whether for laid-back R&B lyrics, catchy pop choruses or fast rap verses. Users can set the syllabic count per line and play with the “wackiness slider” to designate the degree to which they want recommendations that are a bit out-there versus more grounded in surrounding context.
  • Ackerman highlighted the importance of making AI human-centric. The goal of creative AI, she said, is to help people reach their artistic potential rather than to replace human innovation.

Tweetables:

“It’s not about the AI being creative, it’s about how AI can help humans tap into our own creative potential.” — Maya Ackerman [1:14]

“Finding ways to enter new creative spaces is really powerful, and that’s where the strength of creative AI is.” — Maya Ackerman [4:22]

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