YouTube originator Taryn Southern doesn’t shy away from new technology that helps her express herself.

She broke ground as an early YouTuber, producing comedic political videos when everyone else was uploading tape of their late-night parties. Her videos have garnered more than 500 million views.

She edged into novel territory by making music with AI. Her pop album “I Am AI” was the first of its kind, composed with AI to enhance its tracks.

Southern uses AI platforms with deep learning networks that have been steeped in everything from classic rock to dance tunes. The AI generates melodies that inspire her to write lyrics and tweak the sound.

As with all innovators, she’s faced criticism for this collaboration.

Just as early synthesizers were shunned, some say creating music with AI is an unfair shortcut.

“Yes, we are totally cheating. If music is concretely defined as this one process that everyone must adhere to in order to get to some sort of end goal, then, yes, I’m cheating. I am leading the way for all the cheaters,” Southern said in an interview. “The music creation process can’t be so narrowly defined.”

Southern is a prolific artist who embraces many forms of novel technology. She composed an award-winning Google virtual reality series--360° VR. Her sci-fi documentary “I Am Human” about the world's first cyborgs debuted at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.

Another Southern invention is a “song token” on blockchain that lets artists share royalties with their fans.

She’s been called “one of the few trailblazers to make AI-generated music a mainstream tool.” And she’s not the last. As the Huffington Post wrote, “It’s only a matter of time before your favorite AI-created song or movie is accepting its Grammy or Oscar award.”

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