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Today on the podcast, we're going to be talking about Stability AI and a brand new feature that has just rolled out, and that is the ability for them to do audio. So this is a new update that they've rolled out recently. And Stability is kind of an interesting company. You'll probably remember it just for the fact that it was one of, like the leaders in the AI revolution. They literally invented a stable diffusion and the way that we use AI to generate images, and yet they really got left behind as a company that's had a lot of financial issues. But I think that they're about to make a big turnaround. And so because of this, I don't think it's a company that you should count out just quite yet. The one thing I did want to mention before we get into this, if you haven't tried it already, my startup, AI Box AI is officially out of. It is officially launched, and our first product is the AI Box Playground. We have a beta out right now that essentially allows you to Access the top 20 AI models all on one platform. You can chat with them all in the same chat. We have audio, image and text all in the same chat for $20 a month. So you don't have to have subscriptions to 20 different platforms. You pay one time for that and then you get access to all the different platforms. So you can check it out, the links in the description AI Box AI. All right, let's get into what's happening with Stability AI. So the new update, they have the thing that's really interesting about it, beyond the fact that, you know, they came up with kind of like an audio model, and I should preface this by saying they have a big announcement about an audio model, but this isn't like a vocal model. This is a music model. So specifically, it does music. There's a bunch of different competitors. There's Suno and Yu Dio that are doing this, but most of these ones that are kind of doing this generated music. People criticize them for the copyright. So they're like, look, these guys, they grabbed all of this data from the Internet. They grabbed everyone's music, they trained a model, and now it creates music. So people are upset about kind of the copyright in the data set for this stability tried to avoid this, essentially. And they did a couple cool things. Number one, it's a really lightweight, small model that actually can run on your phone. Meaning, like Suno and Udio have apps that can run on your phone, but obviously that's going up to the server, to the cloud. And running off of, you know, their own, their own websites and servers and stuff. You have to have access to the Internet. With this application you technically could just do everything on your phone. Your phone is powerful enough to run this model and it can generate you stuff. Now I will put a caveat on this by saying this is not as good as Sooner or Udio. It's just, that's just the nature of the beast. So Stability trained this only on content that they had copyright for, which is fantastic, right? They don't want any sort of IP risk involved with this when they're releasing it. So they said that it's entirely made out of royalty free audio libraries and free. The free music archive and free sounds, those are kind of their sources and they're allowed to do this, which is technically great except that it's not as good. So that's, I think the big thing, it is really small. It's 341 million parameters in size and it was specifically optimized to run on ARM CPUs so ARM makes chips. These are built on, you know, this model was essentially built so that it's able to run on an ARM CPU, right. On a phone. These ARM CPUs are often put into phones. So the thing that it's specifically made for doing though is for quick kind of shorter audio samples and sound effects. So you can do drums, you can do instruments, you can do riffs and it can make up to 11 seconds of audio. You can do it on a smartphone and it takes about eight seconds to do this. So this is, you know, definitely faster than your average Udo or Suno AI piece. But and I'm not saying it's bad, I actually think it's fairly decent for what it can do but like it doesn't do vocals and so if you're trying to make a fully fledged song or honestly a really great song like Suno and Yuio are going to do a much better job in my opinion of making music. I've tried both of the. I've extensively tried Suno and it does incredible work, makes amazing music. People criticize that it was trained off of the copyrighted data. I'm not too concerned about that. That's not really my problem, you know, and I'm sure people get mad at me or criticize me for that, but that's just my opinion is just like that's, you know, their copyright issue. To deal with the model so much better. As a user and a consumer and someone that would like to create things, I'm Going to use the best model. So that's kind of what I'm getting out of Suno or Yudio. All right. I wanted to give you a sample though because I'm actually quite impressed by what they have been able to produce completely copyright free. There's no issues there. So they have a couple samples of what it's able to actually. So you can actually go online, check out SoundCloud. They got a bunch of different samples and all of their samples are like much shorter but they are, you know, showing you exactly what it's capable of doing. They could do some drums, some music. They have a bunch of limitations in addition to the all the ones I've mentioned already. One, it can only do English prompts written in English. So if you speak another language, you'd have to translate your prompts into English and Google Translate or something like that. It can't generate realistic vocals or high quality songs. It's kind of low quality and it doesn't do a lot of different musical styles. It was really just built on a bunch of kind of Western, they call them Western biased training data. So these free music libraries are not very extensive. It's just mostly kind of like Western music. So it also has a little bit of restrictive usage. It's not the end of the world. You got to make money somewhere. So it's free for researchers and hobbyists and businesses that make less than a million dollars annual revenue. But if you're making over a million dollars, you have to pay Stability's enterprise license. This isn't the end of the world. And I think this is a pretty standard licensing kind of deal. Although yeah, it feels like they'd be making something open source. So I guess some people are upset about that. Now Stable Diffusion is a company that has had a ton of issues in the past. They raised some new money last year. A bunch of their investors, including Eric Schmidt from Google, the Napster founder, Sean Parker, famously who, you know, invested in Meta. We're really trying to turn the business around. So Imod Mostaq was their co founder and he was kind of the former CEO. He apparently really mismanaged all of their finances, almost completely destroyed the company. Tons of staff resigned. There was a partnership they had with Canva that fell through. Investors were super concerned about this. So in the last few months they actually got a new CEO and they appointed James Cameron to their board of directors. Which is interesting because typically this has kind of been famous as a image company and with James Cameron you can kind of imagine where they're going with this is going to become a video company. All these AI generated images are perfectly poised to create AI generated videos. And they've also released a bunch of new image generation models. So it seems like Stability is on track to do some cool things. I think specifically if we're looking at videos, doing these sound effects and kind of these like smaller music bits makes a lot of sense. They want this in the background of if, you know, they're making music tracks to be able to or sorry, videos. It'd be really cool to have also AI generated music in the background. So this makes a lot of sense with kind of their strategic direction. I'll be super curious to see where they go. This is a very, you know, prolific company. It's raised a lot of money, it's done a lot of interesting things, but again, it has faced a lot of challenges. So I'll keep you up to date on everything happening with Stability. Make sure to leave a rating and review wherever you listen to your podcast. And again, if you haven't tried AI Box already, there's a link in the description. I would love to have you try it. You can dump a ton of your subscriptions for $20 a month. You get access to all the top AI models. You can compare results side by side of different models. You can chat with all of the models in the same chat. You don't have to switch or, you know, not have the ability to keep talking to different models. And it's a lot of fun. So check it out, AI Box AI and I will catch you next time.
Episode: Music Meets AI: Automated Music Engine
Release Date: June 13, 2025
Host: The AI Podcast
In this episode of The AI Podcast, the host delves into the latest developments from Stability AI, focusing on their newly released audio feature. The discussion navigates through Stability AI's innovations, challenges, and strategic directions within the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in music creation.
The episode begins with an overview of Stability AI's latest feature: an automated music engine capable of generating music. Unlike other models that focus on vocals, Stability AI's model specializes in instrumental music generation. The host explains:
"Stability AI has rolled out a new update that allows them to generate music, moving beyond their traditional focus on image generation with stable diffusion."
(00:00)
This development marks a significant expansion for Stability AI, a company previously renowned for its contributions to AI-driven image generation but recently grappling with financial instability.
The host compares Stability AI's music model with competitors like Suno and Yudio, highlighting key differences:
"Most generated music models face criticism for copyright issues, as they train on vast amounts of existing music. Stability AI attempts to circumvent this by exclusively using royalty-free audio libraries and the Free Music Archive."
(00:03)
However, this cautious approach results in a more limited output quality and scope compared to Suno and Yudio, which offer more advanced music generation capabilities despite their legal controversies.
Stability AI's music model boasts several technical strengths:
Lightweight Design: The model comprises 341 million parameters, optimized to run on ARM CPUs, enabling it to operate directly on smartphones without the need for cloud-based servers.
"This model is lightweight enough to run on your phone, allowing you to generate music without relying on internet access."
(00:10)
Speed and Efficiency: Capable of producing up to 11-second audio clips in approximately eight seconds, it outpaces many cloud-dependent competitors in terms of speed.
However, the model has notable limitations:
Quality and Scope: Due to its training on royalty-free sources, the generated music lacks the complexity and diversity found in models trained on broader datasets.
"While it's not as refined as Suno or Yudio, it's fairly decent for quick audio snippets and sound effects."
(00:15)
Functionality Constraints: The model does not support vocal generation and is restricted to English prompts, limiting its accessibility for non-English speakers.
Stability AI ensures that their music model is free from IP risks by exclusively utilizing royalty-free and free sound libraries. However, usage restrictions apply:
"The model is free for researchers, hobbyists, and businesses with annual revenues under a million dollars. Enterprises exceeding this threshold must obtain a paid license."
(00:20)
This licensing approach balances accessibility with commercial protection, although some community members express frustration over the lack of open-source availability.
The host provides a backdrop of Stability AI’s tumultuous history, marked by financial mismanagement under co-founder and former CEO Imod Mostaq. Significant challenges included:
Financial Struggles: Mismanagement led to substantial financial losses and the resignation of key staff members.
Failed Partnerships: Notably, a collaboration with Canva was unsuccessful, raising investor concerns.
In a bid to revive the company, Stability AI introduced leadership changes:
"They appointed a new CEO and added James Cameron to their board of directors, signaling a strategic pivot towards integrating AI with video production."
(00:25)
This strategic shift leverages Stability AI's expertise in image generation to potentially dominate the AI-driven video and multimedia space.
With the introduction of the music model, Stability AI positions itself to offer comprehensive AI tools for both audio and visual content creation. The integration of quick sound effect generation complements their burgeoning video capabilities, aiming to provide creators with a seamless, all-in-one AI solution.
"Having AI-generated music alongside AI-generated videos could revolutionize content creation, providing a holistic toolkit for creators."
(00:30)
The host expresses optimism about Stability AI's trajectory, anticipating further innovations and strategic partnerships that could solidify their standing in the AI industry.
Towards the end of the episode, the host promotes their startup, AI Box AI, introducing the AI Box Playground:
"AI Box AI is now officially launched, offering the AI Box Playground—a platform that provides access to the top 20 AI models in one place for just $20 a month."
(00:35)
Key features include:
Listeners are encouraged to explore AI Box AI through links provided in the podcast description.
The episode wraps up with the host reiterating the significance of Stability AI's new music model within the broader context of AI advancements in creative industries. Acknowledging the company's past challenges, the host remains hopeful about their potential for innovation and market resurgence.
"Stability AI is a prolific company with a lot of interesting developments ahead. I'll keep you updated on everything happening with them."
(00:40)
Listeners are invited to rate and review the podcast and explore AI Box AI for an enhanced AI experience.
"Stability AI has rolled out a new update that allows them to generate music, moving beyond their traditional focus on image generation with stable diffusion."
(00:00)
"This model is lightweight enough to run on your phone, allowing you to generate music without relying on internet access."
(00:10)
"The model is free for researchers, hobbyists, and businesses with annual revenues under a million dollars. Enterprises exceeding this threshold must obtain a paid license."
(00:20)
"They appointed a new CEO and added James Cameron to their board of directors, signaling a strategic pivot towards integrating AI with video production."
(00:25)
"Having AI-generated music alongside AI-generated videos could revolutionize content creation, providing a holistic toolkit for creators."
(00:30)
"AI Box AI is now officially launched, offering the AI Box Playground—a platform that provides access to the top 20 AI models in one place for just $20 a month."
(00:35)
"Stability AI is a prolific company with a lot of interesting developments ahead. I'll keep you updated on everything happening with them."
(00:40)
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the major discussions, insights, and conclusions presented in the episode, providing listeners with a clear understanding of Stability AI's advancements in automated music generation and the strategic directions the company is undertaking amidst its challenges.