Meta has beden busy developing its AI tools to integrate them to its products. From chatbots to image generators, the tech giant has also released an AI audio tool called AudioCraft, and the company just open-sourced the AI model.
Meta's AudioCraft
AudioCraft is a suite of generative AI models from Meta that is capable of creating music and audio, just like you would with image generators through text prompts. Audiocraft is made up of three sub-tools, AudioGen, MusicGen, and EnCodec.
AudioGen can be used to generate audio effects and soundscapes such as animal sounds, traffic noise, and specific sounds like footsteps on gravel. MusicGen is able to create musical compositions and melodies based on how it is described in the text prompt.
EnCodec, as mentioned in Ars Technica, is a neural network-based audio compression codec. It has been improved in order for it to generate higher quality music with fewer artifacts, Meta claims. The company has audio samples that show the outcome of the mentioned tools.
The company open-sourced it so that other users will be able to create sounds for their ventures on a "shoestring budget." The models are available for research purposes so people would learn more about the technology.
In addition to that, Meta also claims to be excited to give access to that researchers and practitioners can train their own models with their own datasets, which in turn could help "advance the state of the art."
The move also aligns with the company's approach to responsible AI practices, which has been an issue ever since generative AI gained popularity. The audio research framework and training code is released under the MIT license so that other may improve on the company's work.
Meta's Application of Generative AI
Meta is not stopping at just developing AI tools. Soon enough, its apps and other products will be getting generative AI features. Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg held a meeting in early June to announce the news.
For instance, both of its messaging apps, Messenger and WhatsApp, will get their own AI chatbots. Other apps like Instagram will also gey AI features that fit into what the app is for like AI photo editing, AI art generators, and more.
These features will not only apply to posts by Instagram Stories as well, wherein the user can generate images through text prompts. Although the potential Instagram features for editing are yet to have a release date, the platforms' AI agents might soon arrive.
According to Financial Times, the AI agents, also called "Personas" might arrive sometime around September for both Facebook and Instagram. Users can assign distinct personalities to the chatbot. It could be Meta's way of retaining its users and adding more to the base.
It's not a big surprise that Meta is set on adding AI features to its products. Other than the fact that AI is a trend that's not dying anytime soon, it can also serve the purpose of making it easier to use the apps. Other platforms have already done it as well.
