AI-Based Robot Sings To Piano Player In Japan, Sings About Kim Jong Un's North Korea, NATO

Alter 4, an AI-based robot, demonstrated just how far we have come when it comes to infusing robots with artificial intelligence. It sang to composer Keiichiro Shibuya on piano, dipping into thousand-year-old Buddhist chants while also bringing up Kim Jong Un's North Korea and NATO.

What Happened: Accompanied by five Japanese monks, an orchestra of 50 French musicians, and Keiichiro Shibuya, Alter 4 was at the center stage of ‘Android' opera at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in June this year.

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The Osaka University of Arts develops Alter 4 under its Android and Music Science Laboratory (AMSL) program. While the robot has performed in multiple video and stage products in Japan, this was its first overseas performance.

This fusion of music and science is not a new project – in fact, it is AMSL's fourth-gen robot under the Alter series. "Alter 4 is programmed to sing its score but also improvises its own melody by synchronizing with the choir of the monks of Mount Koya," Châtelet says on its website.

Some of the lines sung by Alter 4 are especially seminal, with the robot stating that it wants to "sing the truth in the midst of the political circus" and that it will become a "messenger of truth".

‘Missiles In The North' And NATO: Exhibiting the power of AI, Alter 4 also touches upon some of the biggest events of the current year – the Russian invasion of Ukraine and NATO's role in maintaining peace. It also talks about power struggles and says that time will reveal who is the enemy and ally.

It also touches upon the threat from Kim Jong Un's North Korea, saying, "missiles in the North, threats spreading in the eastern sky."

Alter 4's facial features look relatively realistic, and now that it is infused with AI, it can do more than just repeat what it has been taught. Whether AI-powered robots will take over operas or not remains to be seen, but it does look futuristic.

You can enjoy Alter 4's performance below:

Image source – Shutterstock

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