With help from AI and Mate20.
After 197 years, Schubert’s Symphony No 8 or the ‘Unfinished Symphony’ is now complete, thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Huawei Mate20 smartphone.
The two final movements were created by Huawei running an AI model directly from the processing power of the dual NPU (Neural Processing Unit) in the Huawei Mate20 Pro smartphone that was designed specifically with AI-based tasks in mind. Analysing the timbre, pitch and metre of the existing first and second movements of the symphony, the AI model then generated the melody for the final, missing third and fourth movements.
Huawei worked with Emmy award-winning composer Lucas Cantor, to arrange an orchestral score from the melody that stayed true to the style of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8.
“At Huawei, we are always searching for ways in which technology can make the world a better place. So we taught our Mate20 Pro smartphone to analyse an unfinished, nearly 200-year old piece of music and to finish it in the style of the original composer,” Huawei Australia Consumer Business Group managing director, Larking Huang said. “We used the power of AI, to extend the boundaries of what is humanly possible and see the positive role technology might have on modern culture.”
The final, Huawei-completed piece was performed at Cadogan Hall, London on February 4.