Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Evergreens

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

What is MusicLM? Check out Google’s text-to-music AI

Add as a preferred source on Google

MusicLM is one of Google’s experimental artificial intelligence (AI) tools that uses natural language models to interpret your instructions. But instead of chatting to you like ChatGPT, or helping you search, like Bing Chat, MusicLM is an AI that takes what you tell it and creates music based on it.

You’ll need to join the waitlist to get access, but once you’re in, you can start making music with Google’s latest AI tool.

Music LM Artist workshop with AI Test Kitchen & Google Arts & Culture Lab

What is MusicLM?

MusicLM is  a prompt-based music creation tool driven by natural language AI. It takes inputs from the user, whether that’s “humming to the tune of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody,” or “ambient, soft music to study to with rain in the background.” You can create genre mash-ups, multi-instrumental compositions, or human voice sounds that have never felt vocal cords before.

For every prompt you input, MusicLM makes two tracks for you to listen to. To help improve the model, Google encourages users to reward a “trophy” to the one that feels the best, or that sounds closest to what you planned with the prompt.

How do you access MusicLM?

MusicLM prompt page.
Google

At the time of writing, Google is only taking applications for MusicLM, granting permission on a case-by-case basis. It’s not clear how many people are being given access or what the criteria are, but you can register your interest to see if Google grants you permission.

To sign up for MusicLM, head to the main page, and hit the Get Started button to sign up.

How do you use MusicLM?

To use the AI, just visit the main MusicLM page, or open up MusicLM in the Google AI Test Kitchen Apps (on Play Store and App Store, respectively), then sign in to your Google account, if necessary. On the main MusicLM page, input your prompt into the prompt window and hit Enter, or press the little arrow next to the prompt field.

You can specify instruments, styles, tempos, pitches, keys — whatever you can think of. MusicLM will then give you a couple of new tracks. You can listen to them by hitting their respective play buttons, or reward them with a trophy by selecting the corresponding icon.

The only caveat is that Google has added a protective system that won’t allow MusicLM to generate music based on artists or existing songs, so you can’t do the mash-ups that have been going viral in recent months. That’s to keep Google out of murky copyright waters.

Interested in checking our more cutting-edge AI? Try making your own GPT-4 chatbot with Dante.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale covers how to guides, best-of lists, and explainers to help everyone understand the hottest new hardware and…
ChatGPT will now remind teens to take breaks and give parents more controls
New parental controls include Quiet Hours, Study Mode defaults, and alerts for serious account violations.
chatgpt-teen-safety-features

OpenAI wants to make ChatGPT safer for teens, and the changes go well beyond a simple content filter. In a new update, the company laid out its stance on why teens should have access to AI in the first place, arguing that keeping them away from it entirely would leave them unprepared for one of the defining technologies of their generation.

Nearly 90% of teens already use ChatGPT weekly for learning, research, or getting organized, which is why OpenAI says access needs to come paired with real protections built for their age.

Read more
ChatGPT’s new search tool saves you from digging through old chats, files, and images
You can also filter ChatGPT search results by content type.
chatgpt-new-search

If you have ever lost a great ChatGPT answer somewhere in your endless chat history, that headache is finally over. OpenAI has rolled out a major search upgrade that lets you find old chats, projects, documents, and images all from one place.

Before this update, the sidebar search only pulled up past conversations, leaving uploaded files, projects, and generated images completely out of reach. The new search option is now available across web, iOS, and Android, on every ChatGPT plan, including free accounts.

Read more
You can now link your favorite apps to AI Mode in Google Search to get things done
AI Mode now works with Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music inside Search.
google-search-ai-mode-connect-apps

Google is making AI Mode in Search more useful by letting you connect third-party apps. Starting this week in the US, you can securely connect some of your go-to apps directly to AI Mode, letting Search actually complete tasks for you instead of just answering questions.

This update builds on a similar trick Google already pulled off inside the Gemini app, and now it is landing in Search itself. The initial rollout includes three launch partners, Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music, with Google saying more app integrations are on the way.

Read more