New jaw-dropping music-creating AI: former Google researchers introduce Udio

AI startup Uncharted Labs, launched at the beginning of this year by former Google DeepMind researchers, has introduced a new tool for music creation. It’s already sparked a lot of enthusiasm and raised the bar of what we thought possible.

The announcement about Udio came as a modest post on X, seemingly emerging out of nowhere. But it’s quickly gaining recognition, with some claiming Udio to be the best music-creating AI app.

“Introducing Udio, an app for music creation and sharing that allows you to generate amazing music in your favorite styles with intuitive and powerful text-prompting,” the company said.

The post includes a lot of examples with clear vocals and music separation, as well as detailed lyrics.

“Bring your words to life with expressive vocals in any style. From soaring gospel to gravelly blues, from dreamy pop to silky rap, Udio has it covered,” Udio post reads.

The startup claims its app can create songs in multiple languages and any style, and it can “bring your words to life with expressive vocals.”

The “default” length of the AI creations is above 30 seconds, and the duration of the song can be easily extended multiple times.

“It works better the more you put in: writing lyrics, exploring sound and genre combos, and expressing your creative taste through curation,” Udio said.

The new AI tool has quickly gathered attention, impressing reviewers or everyone who has tried it. Developers seem to struggle to keep the service on line, as the website constantly crashes.

Ryan Morrisson, an AI editor at Tom’s Guide, called it “the most realistic AI music creation tool I’ve ever tried.”

Udio’s output may sound crisper than Suno's, which is a model released just a few weeks ago and was considered a breakthrough, Rolling Stone suggests. Some even claimed Udio to be a “Suno killer.”

“This buzz isn’t unfounded – early tests and leaked tracks suggest that Udio is not merely a step forward in AI music generation but a giant leap,” said Levent Bulusan in a review on Medium.

For now, Udio is a free beta product, and users can generate up to 1200 songs per month. The company warns that it may have “some rough edges.”

“Our v1 model is capable but not perfect. We're iterating quickly and working on longer samples, improved sound quality, supporting more languages, and next-generation controllability. Stay tuned for more features and improvements coming soon,” the post reads.

Uncharted Labs was founded by three AI researchers, David Ding, Charlie Nash, and Yaroslav Ganin, in December 2023. They previously played pivotal roles in Google’s development of generative AI systems like Imagen and Lyria, according to Tech Startups. Ding led a 30-person research team at Deepmind.

Uncharted Labs raised an investment of $8.5 million from Andreessen Horowitz on January 23rd, 2024, according to Crunchbase.