The U.S. military branch Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is attempting to build a musical device that can create jazz solos on the fly among improvising musicians, with the goal of finding ways to "help people collaborate with machines," according to a Scientific American article. The project's called MUSICA (Musical Improvising Collaborative Agent) and its goal is examine how humans can communicate effectively without language.
Scientific American elaborates further on MUSICA:
To develop a machine capable of playing improvisational jazz, the researchers will create a database of jazz solos from a variety of musicians and have computers analyze the recordings to figure out the various processes that come into play when a musician improvises. The researchers will then develop a performance system to analyze the components of human jazz performances, including the beat, pitch, harmony and rhythm. The system will also consider what it has learned about jazz solos to communicate and respond musically in real time....
Ultimately, [Ben Grosser, assistant professor of new media at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] hoped this research could shed light on the nature of the creative process. "By finding the limits of computational creativity, we can get a different understanding of human creativity, on our own creative processes," Grosser said.
Kenny G had better watch his back.
