How music AI is useful: engagements with composers, performers, and audiences

Critical but often overlooked research questions in artificial intelligence (AI) applied to music involve the impact of the results for music. How and to what extent does such research contribute to the domain of music? How are the resulting models useful for music practitioners? In this article, we describe how we are addressing such questions by engaging composers, musicians, and audiences with our research. We first describe two websites we have created that make our AI models accessible to a wide audience. We then describe a professionally recorded album that we released to expert reviewers to gauge the plausibility of AI-generated material. Finally, we describe the use of our AI models as tools for co-creation. Evaluating AI research and music models in these ways illuminate their impact on music making in a range of styles and practices.