Researchers at Georgia Tech have used artificial intelligence and deep learning technology to teach a robot to compose.

For years robots have been able to play musical instruments, but now thanks to artificial intelligence and deep learning technology, developers at Georgie Tech have taught a robot to compose. A four-armed marimbist robot named Shimon, capable of wielding eight mallets at a time, has been gigging alongside human players for years – and was even featured on The Colbert Report – but now the virtuoso performer is in the running to become the next Bothoven.

^{Shimon, the marimba playing robot composer. Photo © Georgia Institute of Technology}

Researchers at Georgia Tech have taken the robot’s musical skills to new heights, Georgia Tech News reports, feeding the robot datasets including nearly 5000 complete pieces of music and over two million shorter fragments and motifs – from artists as diverse as Beethoven, Miles Davis and Lady Gaga.

“We’ve trained the neuron network with the database that consists of a wide variety of music encompassing everything from jazz, classical to pop music. What [Shimon] is generating is almost...