Seth Forsgren, Co-Founder and CEO of Riffusion, leads the event of an AI-powered music generation tool that creates audio tracks from text prompts. Riffusion allows users to experiment with different musical styles and sounds in real-time, making music creation more accessible. Designed for each creativity and ease of use, the platform enables anyone to explore AI-generated music without requiring formal musical expertise.
Riffusion is the perfect AI music generator that I even have personally tried, and is a tool that I’d recommend for users who’re curious about AI generated music.
Can you’re taking us back to the early days of Riffusion? What was the initial spark that led you to construct an AI music generation tool?
Riffusion began as a complete hobby project between two lifelong musicians. My co-founder, Hayk, and I even have been playing in amateur bands together for over a decade, and we’ve all the time been fascinated by the creative act. One afternoon we were in my backyard writing a song, and within the seek for inspiration we began fidgeting with early AI models that would generate images out of nothing. But what we actually wanted was a tool that would make music with us, an AI we could collaborate with to conjure latest melodies and sounds that nobody had ever heard. There was nothing prefer it on the time, so we tried to construct it for ourselves greater than anyone else.
At what moment did you know it had the potential to turn into a full-fledged company?
The turning point got here after we shared our hobby project with just a few friends, and out of nowhere it went crazy viral. It wasn’t just technologists or AI enthusiasts who were interested – skilled musicians, producers, and hundreds of thousands of on a regular basis music lovers were engaging with it in ways we could have never anticipated. A few of our favourite artists on this planet began reaching out with samples that they had created using Riffusion!
The project also inspired top research labs at Google, ByteDance, and others to spin up their very own AI music efforts based on our work, and it was clear that this wasn’t just an experiment – it was the inspiration for something much greater. As an organization, we now have the prospect to bring this latest instrument to creative people in all places.
What were the most important technical and business challenges you faced when transitioning Riffusion from an experiment right into a business product?
On the technical side, we’ve come a great distance. Our first models generated grainy, five-second snippets of low fidelity music, and we will now generate full-length, high-quality songs with great controllability and expressiveness. This has taken major advances within the model architecture and continuously rethinking things from scratch. It’s a credit to the amazing researchers on our team that we’ve come this far, and we all know this continues to be only the start of what is feasible with the tech.
On the business side, we needed to think deeply about where Riffusion suits inside the music industry. AI music continues to be latest, and while we’re seeing incredible adoption from amateur creators and professionals alike, there’s an ongoing conversation about how AI and human creativity can coexist. Our focus has all the time been on empowering musicians, not replacing them – giving people latest tools to explore their creativity in ways they never thought possible.
Riffusion originally focused on generating short musical riffs, but now it will possibly compose full-length pieces. What advancements allowed you to increase its capabilities?
By training our own foundation models from scratch, we’ve been in a position to improve the standard, expressiveness, and controllability of Riffusion’s output. A significant breakthrough got here with the event and release of our latest model, FUZZ. In blind testing, FUZZ consistently outperforms competing models when given the identical lyrics and sound prompts, and the model is uniquely designed to assist users find their personal sound – the more time a user spends using Riffusion, the more FUZZ learns their individual taste, and the more personalized the generated music becomes. We see this as a giant differentiator for Riffusion.
Many AI music models struggle with maintaining emotional depth in music. How does Riffusion capture the nuances of various moods and styles?
Music is deeply personal and emotional, and we wish Riffusion to generate music that resonates on a human level. As our advisor Alex Pall says, “This isn’t about making sound; it’s about making people feel something special through sound.”
Identical to a well-made violin can empower an artist to specific themselves fully, we train our models to be an instrument guided by the user’s creativity at every turn. Whether you’re inputting a melody, a text prompt, and even a picture, Riffusion adapts to your intent, shaping the output to reflect different moods, dynamics, and stylistic selections. We’re focused on the users who come back day after day to craft really amazing music on the platform.
As AI-generated music continues to evolve, how do you see it complementing relatively than replacing human creativity?
AI is an instrument for musicians, not a substitute. Throughout history, latest musical tools – from synthesizers to digital audio workstations – have expanded what artists can create without diminishing human artistry. Riffusion follows that very same philosophy. We see Riffusion as an instrument that encourages musicians to experiment, collaborate, and take a look at latest types of storytelling. Artists still bring the soul and intent to their music, and AI helps bring those ideas to life. We’re thrilled that so many skilled musicians and enthusiasts are embracing this tool day by day, and finding joy within the creative process.
How have musicians and producers responded to Riffusion’s capabilities? Have you ever seen any unexpected or revolutionary uses of the tool?
The response has been pretty incredible. There have been just a few who began using these tools years ago, but every week now the variety of skilled musicians and producers who’re embracing the technology is expanding dramatically. We’ve seen artists use Riffusion for brainstorming latest melodies, crafting latest sounds, and even composing entire albums. Some have blended Riffusion’s generations with live instrumentation to create entirely latest genres. Probably the most exciting things has been seeing how people take this tool and make it their very own, whether it’s generating music from the sounds of nature, testing experimental compositions, or scoring cinematic pieces.
Now that Riffusion can create long-form music, do you see potential for AI-generated scores in film, video games, or other media?
The power to generate long-form music actually makes Riffusion a robust tool for the larger media landscape. We’re already seeing interest from filmmakers, game developers, and content creators who want unique scores that adapt to their narratives, even perhaps in real-time. It’s clear that AI can assist storytellers express themselves across modalities, and we’re just at first of this frontier.
Looking ahead, what’s your ultimate vision for Riffusion, and the way do you see it shaping the longer term of music creation?
Today, only a tiny fraction of individuals make music, but creativity is inherent in all of us. By constructing tools that lower the barrier to entry while also raising the ceiling of what’s possible with sound, Riffusion will likely be a vital instrument in the longer term. I see Riffusion because the go-to place for anyone trying to create, experiment, and connect through music. Whether you’re an expert producer or someone who’s never made a song before, we wish Riffusion to be the instrument that helps you discover your sound.
