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22 songs, 15 languages: This AI-created album pays tribute to Abu Dhabi

A Russian techpreneur fell in love with Abu Dhabi and decided to pay tribute to it by creating an album dedicated to the emirate using artificial intelligence

When Russian startup founder Ivan Koroteev first visited the UAE with his wife Nataly in November 2023, he knew he had entered a country that has its gaze fixed firmly at the future. But when he decided to visit Abu Dhabi later in March this year, it was love at first sight. A love so deep that he went on to create a music album that pays a tribute to the emirate’s multifaceted appeal.

An ultimate tribute to Abu Dhabi, A Symphony of Cultures features 22 songs in 15 languages all of which praise an aspect of the emirate and the profound impact it has had on Ivan. Take, for instance, the lyrics to this song called Feel the City’s Heartbeat: “In the heart of desert dreams, where the golden sun kisses the sea, found a city that inspired and set my spirit free.”

But here’s a catch: all the songs in the album have been composed and sung with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The process, says Ivan, had been simple, albeit only for someone who is as deeply invested in technology as him. He says he used two AI services for creating music — Suno and Udio. “Suno released a new version of AI called Suno 3.5, which was much better than the old ones. I began by first creating lyrics for songs using Suno and ChatGPT, trying various music styles for these lyrics with Suno (like EDM, rock, rap, pop and others), selecting the best generated music and then preparing it for release using simple editing tools. Udio helped in creating songs gtom text prompt. I converted the file into Flac format and uploaded it on Offstep, where I also created an album cover using AI).” It took three days for Ivan to create the album.

Why Abu Dhabi? Ivan says that the emirate has charmed him deeply. “My wife and I were visiting all the interesting places. I was literally crying at Sea World Yas Island seeing different sea creatures living together in harmony. We visited the Corniche beach and Emirates Palace to take photos and swim. I noticed a lot of green trees and the atmosphere, at large, was comfortable. At Louvre Abu Dhabi, we were looking at ancient relics, beautiful jewels and modern architecture of the museum. We visited Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the tomb of Sheikh Zayed. I felt a lot of respect for Sheikh Zayed’s leadership and vision. Therefore, I was overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude and appreciation,” says Ivan who lives in Russia but hopes to shift his base to the UAE soon.

Ivan currently goes by the music pseudonym of Vano Karade. He says he created this name because it seemed simpler to pronounce and had a lot in common with his original name. “Now, I prefer to be called Aivan, because I work with AI tools,” he laughs.The 35 year-old had not always been a tech geek. As a child, he loved books. The world of magic, adventure and fantasy would transport him to another realm mentally. “When I was five, I would read books about space and conquest of the universe. I was so romantic. Besides, I wore glasses so other children often laughed at me. I preferred not to play with them,” he recalls.

It was at the age of 12 that Ivan, growing up in Moscow, got his first computer. Books were replaced by digital screens as he began to discover a new world of games, especially role-playing games with interesting plots. “This is where I got a chance to be creative. I would try to look for loopholes and shortcuts in a program. Eventually, I discovered that I liked to communicate with computers much more than real people. At least, it worked as per my instructions,” Ivan jokes.

All along music had been a passion. Ever since his parents brought home an mp3 player, he would keep playing Led Zeppelin, Nightwish, The Beatles, Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers on a loop. “These bands created songs that inspired me. I liked their energy, lyrics and listened to music for at least an hour a day.”

A fascination for technology meant that he would eventually become a software developer. “I was using AI but not too much. For example, in 2016, I created a Telegram messenger bot to recognize cats in photos using Google Vision AI. But everything changed when ChatGPT came into the picture. The speed at which it converts ideas to code, text or images using Dalle or Midjourney is incredible. I was amused but also inspired and began to deliver public talks on AI and have done 50 of them so far, including a TEDx,” he says. “It was my knowledge of computers that gave me the confidence to use AI. I liked creating music and soon found a service that could help me publish my music on all platforms (Offstep). All ingredients were ready and needed a spark to ignite. My trip to Abu Dhabi this March proved to be that spark.”

At a time when AI has become all pervasive where does one draw the line between the limitless possibilities of human creativity and the allure of AI? Ivan says nothing can replace human creativity because that can decide the direction AI will eventually take. “Technically, AI is just a game of probabilities. Tools like ChatGPT just weigh the probability of words in answers based on its knowledge and context. Of course, using AI is very easy, you can create thousands of images, text, or even hundreds of music files in one day. But the task, the strategy is always devised by humans. Human creativity is often inspired by emotions, experiences, and the ability to think abstractly, which is currently beyond the scope of AI. While AI can generate content based on patterns and data it has been trained on, it does not truly ‘create’ in the sense that humans do.” Not yet at least!

anamika@khaleejtimes.com

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