Google might be laser focused on generative AI these days, like the majority of its Big Tech competitors. But that hasn’t stopped the search giant from patronizing pretty out-there art projects, true to its experimental roots.
Enter the latest creation from Google’s Art & Culture Lab, Viola the Bird, which uses AI to understand cello and violin compositions. The work has Viola — an animated bird that evokes a Sesame Street character — “perform” famous Beethoven, Vivaldi, Holst and Ravel stringed pieces as a user moves their mouse back and forth along a virtual cello in their web browser.
David Li, the artist behind Viola, worked with cellists and violinists as well as music arrangers to develop the AI, which he then applied to create an audio synthesis engine that generates the sounds of a cello or violin based on a user’s mouse movemen...
