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Top Japanese<\/a> girl band AKB48<\/a> have released a single created using AI, after it proved more popular with fans than a rival song written by famed J-pop producer Yasushi Akimoto.<\/p>\n As part of a songwriting competition on a Nippon TV program called \u201cAkimoto Yasushi vs AI Akimoto Yasushi: AKB48 New Song Production Contest,\u201d the AI \u2013 a version of Google\u2019s Gemini \u2013 was trained on Akimoto\u2019s library of lyrics and his public statements from interviews to develop its own creative voice,<\/p>\n The AI\u2019s creation, \u201cOmoide Scroll \/ \u201cMemory Scroll,\u201d described in Japanese media as a techno-pop track about heartbreak in the smartphone era, won 14,225 votes out of a total 24,760, according to the organizers.<\/p>\n Akimoto\u2019s own song, titled \u201cCecil,\u201d described as a retro-style piece where a girl sings about her admiration for another girl, received 10,535 votes.<\/p>\n Following news of the result, Akimoto said: \u201cHow am I supposed to react to this? It\u2019s disappointing, I wrote it with all my effort.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he had previously suggested that he would be open to being inspired by the AI.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the AI can write a better song, that would make me happy. I want to see it and think, \u2018I never thought of that! It\u2019ll help us decide which direction the next AKB ought to head in,\u201d he said before the result of the vote was announced.<\/p>\n And the AI \u201cAkimoto\u201d was gracious in victory.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is good at deriving the \u2018greatest common denominator\u2019 from past data. Perhaps by losing, the real me was trying to show something new,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n To which the human Akimoto responded jokingly: \u201cOh, be quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n AKB48 have remained fairly neutral in the clash of the Akimotos, but the band did post on its official X account: \u201cThank you for watching the Nippon TV special program \u2018Yasushi Akimoto \u00d7 AI: Yasushi Akimoto vs. AKB48 New Song Showdown.\u2019 The winner was surprisingly AI Yasushi Akimoto.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the band\u2019s fans, a majority of social media comments expressed excitement about the release of the AI-generated song.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, this one seems like it will sell better. It feels like this one has something that recent Akimoto songs have been missing,\u201d wrote one.<\/p>\n AKB48 is the world\u2019s largest pop group, with more than 120 members.<\/p>\n They are in their teens to mid-20s, and are split into teams to rotate performances. When they \u201cgraduate,\u201d they are replaced by trainees.<\/p>\n The young women are commercial darlings, selling everything from chocolate to cell phones and even appearing in videos recruiting for the Japanese military and promoting government bonds.<\/p>\n They have also spawned their own manga series, video games and several sister groups, like Shanghai\u2019s SNH48, Jakarta\u2019s JKT48 and Manila\u2019s MNL48.<\/p>\n