Slopcore.ai is a streaming service from the future, where music is created in real time by an artificial intelligence that adapts to you and your taste. It is also the latest musical work by composer Simon Littauer following his debut album Modular (katharsis, 2025). In this work, he reflects on our complicated relationship with artificial intelligence.
With Slopcore, Simon Littauer presents an artistic proposition for how music might be experienced and developed in a world where streaming services do not merely distribute music, but become creative systems in their own right. The project grew out of Littauer’s many years of work with generative systems in electronic music and a deep interest in the intersection of music, technology, and philosophy. As a music release, Slopcore emerges from Simon Littauer’s artistic research into generative electronic music – a genre that has been popularized by the British composer Brian Eno. Eno coined the term „generative music“. Below, you can listen to his historical landmark, Generative Music 1, made in 1996 with the Koan software.
With Littauer’s debut album Modular, Littauer worked by setting up an electronic system of various sound modules that generate sound autonomously. The artist responds to the sound, processes it, changes the input, and plays along with it. In principle, this is not far from the method employed in Slopcore and in the use of artificial intelligence to make music in general. When doing so, one prompts an AI algorithm, processes the generated sound, and adjusts the prompt. Littauer is asking:
Can I express this idea through artificial intelligence without misusing artistic authorship?
Can I claim fair use as a defense?
The paradox of innovation: creating change without becoming the hypocrite you fear.
We ask ourselves the same questions you might be asking.
Do you use ChatGPT? Can anyone truly account for the dataset behind their own AI-enhanced, day-to-day output?
We sent Simon a couple of questions to learn more about his ideas and inspiration behind Slopcore.ai.
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For one hand, I understand the appeal. Now everybody can generate music, combine various genres, re-create a song of some famous singer in a different style, etc. But mostly it seems it’s just for quick fun. I don’t see that it can replace the joy of pure creativity, improvisation, and fun with the band members, for example. Do you see AI music generation as something important for the world? We just don’t see the scale now?
I don’t think it can, nor should it replace the joy of making music in any of the ways you are mentioning. I don’t think AI music is important for the world. It has had a huge impact on the music industry and other industries, though, such as the general entertainment industry. I guess we have not seen the full scale of it yet.
Slopcore.ai is an artistic experiment. I wanted to see if I could do something different and interesting with AI and music, while labeling it for what it is. It is a way to enjoy music, like any other release. But it is also interactive, and the concept is that it adapts to your taste. It is also a reflection on the current state of music streaming services, social media, AI slop, etc. AI and music is a very polarizing field to work in at this point. It evokes many strong feelings. I have gone through many of these uneasy feelings myself while seeing the true power of AI unfold over the last couple of years. I understand why AI scares people. And there are many unanswered ethical questions.
Do you believe artists will use AI more with their songs in the future? For example, in pop music, I can see that some easy harmonic progressions of melody could be created in just a few seconds, and be accepted by the general pop fans. We won’t hear the difference. Will it replace producers?
Yes, I do think artists will use AI more when crafting their songs in the future. I think a tremendous number already are, and a considerable amount of commercially released music is already purely AI-made, according to the music streaming service Deezer. Deezer also states that almost nobody can hear the difference between AI-generated music and human-made music. It is a hard question to answer, but I would guess that since artists are brands and producers help build those brands, they will not be replaced. Producers might work differently in the future, but the role of the producer has been evolving ever since it was established.
For you in AI music generation, what aspects are interesting to you personally?
With Slopcore.ai, it was interesting to me to apply some principles from early generative and aleatoric music to the context of generative AI. The artistic, conceptual use of AI is particularly interesting because it feels like there is still so much untrodden territory at this early stage.
Do you think AI systems (in the future) could learn to imitate, recreate, and generate emotions similar to humans?
If what Deezer says is true, that people can’t distinguish AI-generated music from human-made music, we might already be there.
What did you want to say with Slopcore.ai? It is an example of how music fans could use AI for a better listening experience? Is there room to improve the digital and overall experience for listening to music? If yes, where do you see it?
Originally, I wanted to present a future scenario. However, time caught up with me, and by the time Slopcore.ai was released, it no longer felt like a future scenario. The project is intended to serve as a philosophical springboard, not as a “better” way of experiencing music. I am quite concerned about how we consume music today and how much power digital streaming services have over artists.
You create music with modular synthesizers, which is also a technique of music generation. Despite AI, do you know about other music generation techniques that are interesting to you, or which you have explored?
I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with sound and music generation, from hitting ice, wood, and rocks when I’m in nature to experimenting with feedback loops and synthesizers. I’ve seen people extract voltages from plants to use in modular synth environments. I love all of this, and I experience music, both playing and listening, with my whole body. It is the thing I love most. I hope people will understand that the good things we love about music do not have to disappear because of the introduction of a new technology.
Notes:
Deezer / https://newsroom-deezer.com/2025/09/28-fully-ai-generated-music/
Deezer / https://newsroom-deezer.com/2025/11/deezer-ipsos-survey-ai-music/
EU AI Act: First Regulation on Artificial Intelligence / https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence
„Spotify Wants To Hook Users On AI Music Creation Tools“, Forbes / https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhochberg/2022/06/29/spotify-is-developing-ai-tools-to-hook-users-on-music-creation/
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Interview: Krištof Budke
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