A struggling musician has captured the attention of the music industry by using generative artificial intelligence to produce a critically acclaimed new track. The artist, who performs under the name 1010Benja, has openly embraced the controversial technology for his latest song, "Semiramis’ Dream," demonstrating how AI can be used as a creative tool rather than just a source of cheap, automated content.
Generative AI in music is often criticized for producing unoriginal and repetitive outputs. However, "Semiramis’ Dream"—the opening track of Benja's latest EP, Time Has Nothing To Do With What You Choose...—has surprised critics. It blends a high-energy jungle beat with Benja’s powerful, human vocals. While a choir of artificial backup singers provides a hint of the song's AI origins, the vocals are heavily processed in a rapid-fire style typical of modern hyperpop, effectively masking the artificial nature of the audio.
Unlike many creators who try to hide their use of AI, 1010Benja is open about his process. The song is even officially marked as AI-generated on the streaming platform Deezer. To create the track, Benja and his collaborator, Patrick Holder, recorded the initial vocals and beats, and then fed these elements into the AI music generator Suno. They took the AI's output, edited it using professional audio software Ableton, added new layers, and fed it back into Suno. Benja estimates that they repeated this cycle of editing and regenerating several hundred times to refine the final product.
Despite his success, Benja remains realistic about the ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence. He acknowledges the environmental impact of data centers and the threat AI poses to human artists, admitting that "the good guy doesn't win this one." For Benja, however, the choice to use generative AI was born out of financial necessity. As an indie artist who has struggled with rent and experienced periods of homelessness, he explained that AI allowed him to realize musical concepts that would otherwise be far beyond his financial means, such as hiring a professional children's choir.
While some music critics argue that the song's effects could have been achieved using traditional vocal editing software without AI, "Semiramis’ Dream" has sparked a new conversation. It shows that in the hands of a skilled artist, generative tools can be used to push creative boundaries rather than simply flood the internet with low-quality music.