Ode to Dubai’ – the world’s first AI-composed song dedicated to a city – will debut at the Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC) and Internet of Things Expo (IoTX), which is taking place on 1st to 3rd May at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) as a part of Future Technology Week.
A collaboration between the show organisers, Dubai World Trade Centre(DWTC) and AIVA Technologies, a European Artificial Intelligence (AI) music composition startup, ‘Ode to Dubai’ has been created using Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist (AIVA), which composes original classical scores for film, advertising and gaming soundtracks.
The song was composed based on the algorithms of 30,000 symphonic music scores from history’s greatest composers including Mozart, Beethoven and Bach.
“Ode to Dubai may well usher in the real ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ era,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Events and Exhibitions, DWTC. “The anthem’s premier underscores Dubai’s leadership role in the promotion and development new technologies such as AI and the ability of GISEC and IoTX to explore the immense possibilities of new trends.”
AIVA’s CEO, Pierre Barreau, a computer scientist, award-nominated film director and registered composer, will make a keynote speech at the event following the launch of ‘Ode to Dubai’ tomorrow, to discuss whether AIVA is “the greatest composer of all time.”
Barreau will challenge the long-held notion that as music was understood to involve emotional expression it could only be composed by humans.
“Sheet music and notes themselves don’t contain emotions; they’re just a discrete representation of what a musician should play with their instrument,” he said. “The emotions are actually created in our brains when we hear the music being performed, and it is our personal interpretation that associates the sound we hear to emotions and experiences. That is why two different persons hearing the same music might feel different things and that is why AI-composed music can make people feel something: because the emotions are not in the score. They are created in our brains.”
The premier of ‘Ode to Dubai’ will set the tone for this year’s co-located GISEC and IoTX, which are open to the public for the first time, promise to be the most exciting to date, said organisers.
Future Technology Week will feature more than 120 cybersecurity and technology exhibitors from 80-plus countries showcase the latest products and services to meet growing demand for critical online security and blockchain solutions. More than 7,500 infosec professionals will gather to network, knowledge share and trade, while 60-plus experts will address over 100 talks on everything from the future of Artificial Intelligence to national cybersecurity agendas, and smart city implementation
“The technologies on display impact the day-to-day-living of us all and we want to enable anyone with an interest in cybersecurity and IoT to gain a deeper understanding of challenges and opportunities facing the region as it continues to embrace the digital era,” said LohMirmand.
