OpenAI Enters AI Music Race, Rivaling Google and Suno

OpenAI, the dominant artificial intelligence research company behind ChatGPT, is developing a new generative AI tool capable of producing music from both text and audio prompts, according to a report by the technology publication The Information. 

The initiative marks a significant expansion of the company's creative capabilities beyond its viral chatbot and the video generation model Sora.

The forthcoming technology is envisioned to enable users to compose musical scores for videos or generate specific instrumental tracks, such as guitar accompaniment for a vocal recording.

The development effort reportedly includes a notable collaboration with students from The Juilliard School, the prestigious performing arts conservatory in New York City. 

A source familiar with the project indicated to The Information that these students are assisting in the annotation of musical scores, which will serve as crucial training data to refine the model's understanding of musical structure and artistry.

This move positions OpenAI in direct competition with technology heavyweights and specialized startups already established in the generative music space. Rivals include Google, which has released its own text-to-music models, and the well-known AI music platform Suno.

While the report confirms OpenAI's renewed focus on music generation—a field it previously explored before the 2022 debut of ChatGPT—specific commercial details remain elusive.

It is currently unclear when the product will be officially released or whether it will be launched as a standalone application or integrated into existing OpenAI platforms, such as the ChatGPT interface or its text-to-video generator, Sora.