Research in music and artificial intelligence

Although the boundaries of artificial intelligence (AI) remain elusive, computers can now perform musical tasks that were formerly associated exclusively with naturally intelligent musicians. After a historical note, this paper sermonizes on the need for AI techniques in four areas of musical research: composition, performance, music theory, and digital sound processing. The next part surveys recent work involving AI and music. The discussion concentrates on applications in the four areas of research just mentioned. The final part examines how AI techniques of planning and learning could be used to expand the knowledge base and enrich the behavior of musically intelligent systems.