{"id":148469,"date":"2025-09-16T23:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T23:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/148469\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T23:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T23:21:10","slug":"japanese-girl-group-akb48-release-ai-assisted-single-after-fan-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/148469\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese girl group AKB48 release AI-assisted single after fan vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark SavageMusic correspondent<\/p>\n

\"EMI\/UniversalEMI\/Universal Japan<\/p>\n

AKB48, with more than 40 members, are one of the most successful bands in Japanese pop<\/p>\n

One of Japan’s biggest girl groups, AKB48, have released a single that was partially generated by artificial intelligence, after a televised songwriting contest.<\/p>\n

The competition saw composer Yasushi Akimoto, whose songs have collectively sold more than 100 million copies, go head-to-head with an “AI Akimoto” trained on his writing style.<\/p>\n

They each composed a new song for AKB48 as the group celebrated their 20th anniversary. Fans were presented with both tracks and asked to vote for their favourite.<\/p>\n

The results were announced live on Japanese TV – with the AI song, Omoide Scroll, winning by more than 3,000 votes. “What? You’re kidding me!” Akimoto responded as the scores were revealed.<\/p>\n

\"NipponNippon TV<\/p>\n

The AI song was crowned the winner after a five-day online vote<\/p>\n

The song has now been uploaded to streaming services as AKB48’s 67th official single. <\/p>\n

The real Akimoto’s song, called C\u00e9cile, has been deleted from YouTube.<\/p>\n

The Japanese music industry will be watching closely to see how fans react to Omoide Scroll, now they know it was machine-generated. <\/p>\n

Japan’s Oricon singles chart will provide the ultimate litmus test – as AKB48’s last 53 songs have gone to number one.<\/p>\n

If their new record breaks that streak, it may be regarded as a rejection of the technology.<\/p>\n

\"EMI\/UniversalEMI\/Universal Japan<\/p>\n

The band’s seventh album, Nantettatte AKB48, topped the Japanese charts last December<\/p>\n

Yasushi Akimoto is one of the most prominent writers and idol-makers in Japanese pop, and was once called the “Steve Jobs of otaku” – a Japanese term for people with an obsessive interest in a specific hobby such as anime or video games.<\/p>\n

He is responsible for creating chart-topping bands including Onyanko Club, AKB48 and their various spin-offs; and is a professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.<\/p>\n

For the AI songwriting contest, Google’s Gemini software was trained on Akimoto’s writing style, including essays, vocabulary and songwriting techniques.<\/p>\n

It then generated the lyrics for a new song and chose which of AKB48’s members (there are 43 in total) would perform the lyrics and choreography. <\/p>\n

The song itself was completed and arranged by humans, although some Japanese media reports say the AI software was also responsible for the melody.<\/p>\n

Akimoto followed the same process, and the two songs were put to a public vote, without revealing which was which.<\/p>\n

The entries were:<\/p>\n

C\u00e9cile. Written by Akimoto, it is a Motown pastiche with a French twist. The lyrics describe a girl’s obsession with her female best friend: “I copy the way you style your hair \/ Please don’t notice my love for you.” Akimoto chose AKB48’s current band leader Kuranoo Narumi to sing the lead vocal.Omoide Scroll. Written by AI Akimoto, takes a more modern approach, with a lite-techno backing and a group chorus. The title means “memory scroll” and the lyrics depict heartbreak in the smartphone era: “I stop the scroll of memories \/ Like the battery light fading out.” After analysing interviews with AKB48, the AI chose newcomer Ito Momoka to perform the song, highlighting her ability with emotional storytelling.\"AKB48AKB48<\/p>\n

The members of AKB48 posed with “AI Akimoto” after their victory<\/p>\n

In the run-up to the contest, Akimoto was philosophical about the process.<\/p>\n

“Everyone keeps asking me, ‘What will you do if you lose?’,” he said. <\/p>\n

“It’s fascinating to think that AI could create such a great song, and I’m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to hear [fans] say, ‘I never thought of that!'”<\/p>\n

When the votes were counted, the AI won by 14,225 votes to Akimoto’s 10,535. <\/p>\n

Speaking on live television, the musician admitted he was “disappointed” by the loss.<\/p>\n

“That’s a shame. I wrote it with all my might,” he said.<\/p>\n

The AI program was also asked for a response, and commented: “Maybe the real me was trying to show something new by losing this time.”<\/p>\n

“Shut up!” Akimoto retorted, prompting laughter in the studio.<\/p>\n

The composer was comforted by Grammy-winning jazz musician Hiromi Uehara and former AKB48 singer Sashihara Rino, who encouraged a rematch.<\/p>\n

Akimoto laughed off the suggestion, but expressed frustration about technology’s ability to mine data and find the “maximum common denominator”.<\/p>\n

However, he conceded: “I think the AI \u200b\u200bsong is a good song.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark SavageMusic correspondent EMI\/Universal Japan AKB48, with more than 40 members, are one of the most successful bands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-148469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}