Research Shorts:Using AI in Contemporary Composition

This week I’ve been talking to Zakiya Leeming about her work with artificial intelligence (AI) and music, and it’s great to be speaking with a composer about this. AI is a pressing issue not only for artists across all disciplines, but also for all those in arts and music education. Through Zakiya’s artistic practice, composition becomes a kind of research in itself.

She explains: ‘My work explores recent and emerging AI technologies and considers how they can complement, expand or inform a composition practice. I have been surprised to find how diverse both the technologies and the uses of these can be and the impact it has had on my practice, including making new compositional methods available and informing the development of new conceptual frameworks. I have also been surprised by how human-driven and human-centric these can be. This research highlighted how AI technologies can be created and adopted for use in art.’