Chapter 13
When AI Brought My Songwriting Dreams to Life
In Mustafa Suleyman’s The Coming Wave, he recalls the moment AI became real to him. It was 2012, and at DeepMind, they trained an AI to play Atari games. One day, the AI devised a novel strategy in Breakout—one that no human had thought of. It wasn’t just learning to play; it was learning to win in a way that fundamentally transcended human thought.
This epiphany—the realization that AI could exceed human creativity and achieve strategic outcomes—cemented AI’s significance for Suleyman.
I had a similar moment recently. It wasn’t in the context of gaming or cutting-edge research. It was while experimenting with the music AI startup Suno.ai.93 I knew it could generate songs because I’d played with it before, marveling at how quickly it could compose a track. But this time, I discovered I could submit my own lyrics and have the AI craft a complete song to match.
Initially, I approached this discovery as an academic librarian deeply immersed in AI literacy. I thought, “What if I used this to make my AI literacy guide more engaging?” Inspired by a TikTok where someone fed Eminem-style lyrics into ChatGPT and Suno, I decided to do the same.
The result: an AI literacy battle rap. It was both hilarious and surprisingly effective. My coworkers loved it, and we joked about sharing it on social media to reach students in a fresh, unexpected way.
Breathe Life Into Lyrics
Later that day, the idea took a more personal turn. For years, I had been sitting on a trove of song lyrics I wrote during high school and my early 20s—lyrics that had never become songs because I couldn’t play an instrument or sing. What if I could bring them to life now?
So, I dug through an old Google Doc, found a set of lyrics, and submitted them to Suno. In less than 30 seconds, the app produced a fully realized song—and not just any song—a hard rock track that sounded like it belonged in the same playlist as Linkin Park or Three Days Grace. My lyrics were brought to life in a way I’d never imagined possible.
The experience was profound. For over a decade, I had dreamed of becoming a songwriter. I spent countless nights in rural North Dakota writing lines, only to be told my lyrics were too wordy or didn’t account for basic performance needs like breathing breaks. Without the ability to perform or collaborators to carry my ideas further, my dream died out.
In my early 20s, I pivoted to writing essays for Hypebot.com,94 leaving songwriting behind. Over the years, the flow of lyrics dried up, replaced by the essays and analyses that now define my professional life.
But in that moment, hearing my words sung back to me, something clicked. AI had breathed life into a part of me I thought was gone.
I began sharing these AI-generated songs with friends, eager for them to hear what I’d created. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive—not just because the music was good but because it gave a glimpse into a younger version of me, a dreamer who thought his lyrics could matter.
This experience also highlighted how far AI has come. A year ago, I wrote an essay predicting that AI would disrupt the music industry, but I never imagined it would evolve this quickly. The ability to transform raw lyrics into polished songs in seconds felt like magic. And it wasn’t just me—AI could empower anyone with lyrics without the means to execute them.
A Glimpse of the Future
As I reflect on this moment, I wonder where this technology will take us next. Will amateur lyricists and poets flood platforms like Suno, creating a new market for AI-generated music? Will we see a democratization of songwriting, where talent and creativity matter more than technical skill?
For me, this wasn’t just about making music—it was about rediscovering a part of myself I thought was lost. I don’t consider myself a musician, but this experience made me feel like a creator. It rekindled a long-dormant dream and gave me a glimpse of what’s possible in this AI-driven future.
As AI continues to evolve, so will its role in empowering creativity. What I experienced wasn’t just a technological breakthrough—it was a deeply personal one. It was a reminder that even long-forgotten dreams can find new life, and sometimes, the future arrives faster than we expect.
AI is rewriting the rules of who can create, how they can create, and what can be achieved without traditional skills or resources.
Here are my AI-generated rock songs: "Collateral Damage"95 and "So Much, Sometimes."96