Turning to AI for inspiration

Lu Xiaoxu, a 46-year-old AIGC artist and founder of Xiaoxu Music, has been actively embracing AI to unlock new career trajectories.

After making music for about two decades, Lu learned about the AI music-generation platform Suno in early 2024 and quickly predicted the trend of industrial transformation. His team delved into AI music production that May, and has gradually expanded its footprint from music to video generation, creating AI singers, and beyond. Their AI-generated works have garnered over 200 million streams and views over the past five months.

"The AI tools for music creation have been evolving quickly. Sometimes, you can barely discern them from human artists. Currently, a vast majority of human musicians are using AI to assist in their creations," says Lu.

Today, Lu's team has created a dozen digital singers, many of which have gained extensive social media popularity. Lu has also seen rapidly increasing acceptance and recognition of AI music from the wider public, who are not ashamed to write genuine comments on AI-generated songs and videos.

"AI is working well in creating music with existing styles, but human aesthetic sensibility is still required to make judgments and selections among the generated results. It's still challenging for AI to generate unique creations, such as folk music, intangible cultural heritage and mixing styles," says Lu.

Lu is now exploring more possibilities with AI in a wide range of new sectors, such as AI music education, as well as live performances and talent shows.

For Guo Wanyu, 30, whose painting featuring irises burst onto the scene in May, AI is also a helpful "assistant". Now running a small OPC (one-person company), Guo says that AI offers new perspectives and inspiration, and has also helped create derivatives of her artworks, such as merchandise and digital collectibles.

"Digital collectibles can make artworks more accessible to the public. I don't think artists should shy away from AI; it is a tool that can bring our work to fruition," says Guo.

Drawing since she was 9, Guo is the soul of her artwork. She believes that human artists will always have their own core competitive advantages and indispensable skills.

"Technology will continue to evolve and times will change. What will truly endure is the sincerity and aesthetic sensibility within the artwork, as well as the connections formed between people," she adds.