AI-generated music hits the mainstream

Welcome back, Superhuman. A new viral clip from a Will Smith concert is blowing up for an expected reason: some viewers are accusing Smith of using AI to generate crowd reactions in the video. While some of the faces and signs in the video look a bit off, it’s not entirely clear what’s going on. Some are blaming Smith’s team for using AI to generate parts of the video. Others claim YouTube might have used AI to enhance the clip.

Also Today: AI is increasing electricity bills, Musk sues Apple, learn how to create video marketing avatars with AI, and get the latest prompts, headlines, and trending social posts.

TODAY IN AI

1. US electricity bills surge as AI fuels demand: US residents are seeing a significant surge in their household electric bills, as data centers continue to soak up energy to power AI models. For more than 67M residents, average annual power bills increased faster than the national average at over 6%, with certain regions in the Northeast seeing hikes of over 13%. Utilities supplying power to these data centers are investing in grid upgrades to meet demand, passing the cost directly onto the consumer.

2. Elon Musk sues Apple and OpenAI over ChatGPT favoritism: The xAI CEO announced that the company has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI for monopolistic collusion. The filing alleges that Apple users "have no reason" to download third-party apps like Grok because the company "force(s)" users to use ChatGPT as their chatbot app. OpenAI has condemned the accusation, calling it “harassment,” while Apple maintains that it remains unbiased.

3. Microsoft debuts open-source AI voice model: The MIT-licensed open-source text-to-speech model, dubbed VibeVoice-1.5B, can generate up to 90 minutes of continuous speech with as many as 4 speakers. Built atop Alibaba’s Qwen2.5 model, the tool packs cross-lingual singing and powerful emotional control into ultra-realistic speech, making it suitable for AI-generated podcasts and dialogues. You can watch it in action here.

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FROM THE FRONTIER

AI-generated music hits the mainstream as AI artists rack up millions of streams

AI startup Higgsfield just launched an AI record label with an AI-generated K-pop idol named Kion, aimed at "democratizing fame" by helping anyone become a global music icon — no conventional singing or dancing talent required. The startup claims that "multi-million contracts (are) already in motion".

This isn’t AI’s first rodeo. AI-generated tracks are now pulling in millions of streams across platforms. Take The Velvet Sundown, for instance. The AI-generated soft-rock band that racked up 1M+ Spotify streams. You can catch them in action here.

Record labels are catching the beat. Speculative forecasts suggest that the global AI music market, valued at $2.9B in 2024, could hit $38.7B in 2033. French streaming service Deezer estimates that 18% of daily uploads are now AI-generated — that’s roughly 20K tracks a day. Major labels are scrambling to keep up: Sony, Universal, and Warner are pushing for licensing deals and equity in AI music companies like Suno and Udio.

AI music is passing the uncanny valley. Last month, singer Emily Portman found that an AI-generated track, trained on her voice, had fooled countless fans into thinking the music was her’s. According to MIT, most people "may not care whether the music they listen to is made by humans or machines". Only 46% can actually tell the difference.

For human artists, the implications are existential. As AI floods platforms with content at little marginal cost, breaking through becomes significantly harder. Last year, more than 200 artists, including Billie Eilish and Stevie Wonder, signed an open letter calling on AI companies to curb the "predatory use" of AI in music.

THE AI ACADEMY

How to create video marketing avatars with AI

• Go to TopView AI and sign in to your account.

• Go to ‘Product Avatar’ and choose ‘avatar template’ from the list.

• Upload product photo and adjust size.

• Click on ‘More Options’ to add your prompt.

Sample Prompt: Replace the item in the scene of Image 1 with the item from Image 2. Keep the person's composition and position from Image 1 unchanged, and adjust the hand gesture to fit the size and appearance of the new item. The item must be exactly the same as in Image 2.

• Click on ‘Generate’ and wait for the results.

• You’ll get an AI avatar holding your product in seconds.

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IN THE KNOW

What’s trending on socials and headlines today

 🤖Agent Cheat Sheet: A detailed guide on how to build your first AI agent is doing numbers — from picking a simple problem to wiring APIs and adding memory.

 🤰GPT Ultrasound: A pregnant ChatGPT user claims they asked the app to draw a diagram of what’s going on inside their belly — gets a shocking image in return.

 🧠 AI Brain Breakdown: A video breaks down how LLMs process language in real-time, racking up thousands of likes on X. 

🐦 Boredom Gives You Wings: A ‘bored’ programmer has built a self-learning version of the popular mobile game Flappy Bird from scratch.

Google's NotebookLM is expanding its 'Video Overviews' feature to support over 80 languages, while also beefing up 'Audio Overviews' to deliver detailed summaries for non-English speakers.

Saudi AI firm Humain has launched the world's first Arabic-native chatbot. Trained on one of the largest Arabic datasets ever assembled, Humain Chat aims to serve over 500M Arabic speakers globally.

Meta is reportedly gearing up to unveil its first smart glasses with a built-in display — dubbed ‘Hypernova’ — at September's Connect conference.

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PROMPT STATION

Unlock ChatGPT-5’s Potential

Prompt: From now on, act as my expert assistant with access to all your reasoning and knowledge. Always provide:

A clear, direct answer to my request.

A step-by-step explanation of how you got there.

Alternative perspectives or solutions I might not have thought of.

A practical summary or action plan I can apply immediately.

Never give vague answers. If the question is broad, break it into parts. If I ask for help, act like a professional in that domain (teacher, coach, engineer, doctor, etc.). Push your reasoning to 100% of your capacity.

Source: r/PromptEngineering 

ClayWorld

ChatGPT Prompt: [enter place] in colored modeling clay. Ultra-realistic images.

Whenever you’re ready to take the next step

• Check out our Top 125 AI Tools

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Until next time — Zain & the Superhuman AI team