A West Virginia teenager has created a rapping A.I. bot that self-generates bars using Kanye West lyrics, Quartz reports. Robbie Barrat, 17, was debating whether artificial intelligence could be taught to perform tasks better than humans in his high school’s programming club. Using open-source code, Barrat programmed the A.I. with 6,000 Kanye lines and finished the project in a week to show his peers at the next club meeting. “Originally it just rearranged existing rap lyrics, but now it can actually write word-by-word,” Barrat said. The bot can also incorporate pauses for rhythm and effect. Listen to the results below. Here’s an example of what the bot churned out:
Barrat is now working on more neural networks that can potentially write melodies and produce “abstract art.” He is joining the likes of programmers and researchers that believe that A.I. can be programmed to make music and write songs. Earlier this year, Google taught a robot how to play piano as part of Project Magenta and unveiled a track produced by a bot. Similarly in 2016, Sony shared two songs composed through A.I.
