If you've played around with generative AI at all, you know how impressive it can be, moral scruples aside. ChatGPT can generate pages and pages of text, while DALL-E can piece together an illustration from a simple request. (Whether those results are made up or stolen is another story.)
But perhaps nothing has impressed (and scared) me more in the age of AI than music generators. Sure, it's cool ChatGPT can write an essay or a poem at the drop of a hat, but I had a bot write me a song with vocals and lyrics in seconds. The future is going to be wild, people.
Suno is a little too good at generating short songs for free
While many AI music generators are arriving on the scene, so far I'm most impressed by Suno. This bot is developed by a team of musicians and AI experts out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and you can tell the people behind it know what they're doing when you try out Suno for yourself. My first attempt was what scared me the most: Feeling a bit cheeky, I asked Suno to generate me an old school hip hop track about the horrifying implication of high quality AI-generated music. Suno processed the request, then spat this out.
Obviously, this wouldn't pass as a "real" song, but it's too closer for comfort. I don't like how naturally the AI was able to rap out, "But hold up, listen closely, AI be posin' a danger/Creativity replaced by a mere stranger." Reader, it sent a shiver down my spine.
These songs are usually about 30–60 seconds long (although you can extend them if you want), and you aren't able to request specific artists (copyright issues, etc.) But you can get creative, and go ultra specific in your requests to see what Suno generates.
How to generate your own AI songs for free
You can use Suno's site to generate free songs without issue. You'll just need to create an account, then enter the description for your song in the "Song Description" box before hitting Create. Suno gives you 50 "credits" a day for free. That basically means five requests a day, as each request generates two different versions of a song, taking five credits each. If you want to get a bit more granular, you can hit "Custom Mode," which lets you enter custom lyrics (Suno recommends eight lines, or two verses, for the best effect), the style of music, and the title of your song.
If you want to extend the song further, you can click the three dots next to your song, then choose Continue From This Clip. Here, you can make an extension of the song in Custom Mode, then hit Continue to generate.
However, if you're a Copilot fan, you can generate songs directly in Microsoft's AI bot without needing to make a Suno account. First, open up Copilot in the browser of your choice (it used to be a Microsoft Edge exclusive), then sign into your Microsoft account. From here, click the Plugins menu and make sure the Suno plugin is enabled. Then, enter your song request in the text field and send it off. While Suno generates your song, Copilot will return AI-generated search results about the genre you requested, which is...fine, I guess? With Copilot, you also get five Suno requests a day.
You can share your track easily using the share button, which copies the link to your clipboard. You can also download it if you want it on-hand: On Suno's site, click on the three dots next to your song, then choose Download Audio. In your browser, you should be able to right-click on the track, then hit Save Audio As. (This works in Microsoft Edge, in my use.)
Just remember: Suno owns everything generated on its service, even though it offers you the option to download the songs for later use. Just don't accidentally generate the next viral pop hit.