Kevin Bretz

Today’s generative music systems are one-shot: a prompt goes in, a finished track comes out. Goneis the artist’s subconscious signature, built over years and shaped by taste and the tools at their disposal. This automates the product of music-making while discarding the process of real-time, negotiated interplay through which musicians actually create.
History, however, shows us that artists adapt to new technologies by making them their own. With this context this talk proposes rewiring generative AI from an instrument of automation into a partner in collaboration, the kind you play with rather than prompt. The session will outline the path from offline, one-shot generation toward online systems that can jam with the artist.

Addressing the Rewire! theme, the talk will explain how the connection most worth patching is between artists and machines that play together. It is an open invite to musicians, technologists and researchers to discuss what such an agent must do to earn a place on stage.

Welcome to Most Wanted: Music Research Presentation Track: a day where sound meets inquiry and creativity meets reflection. We begin with a short listening experience to set the tone for a program of inspiring talks and performances exploring how research and music intersect, evolve, and shape artistic and technological practices.