On Monday, Yasushi Akimoto appeared on Nippon TV to learn the result of a songwriting contest between the famed composer and an AI version of him. The real Akimoto and “AI Akimoto” were given the task of writing a single for AKB48, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. For the track, “Omoide Scroll,” Google’s Gemini software studied Akimoto’s songwriting style and learned about his way of thinking. 

It then wrote the lyrics for the track and decided which of the group’s 43 members would sing. The song wasn’t fully AI-generated as it was completed and arranged by humans. The real Akimoto competed against the AI version of himself with the song “Cécile.” The two tracks were subsequently put to a public vote. Fans had until September 7 to decide which one they preferred, but weren’t told which was which.

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AI Akimoto Track ‘Omoide Scroll’ Triumphs in Songwriting Contest 

In the end, “Omoide Scroll” won with 14,225 votes, more than 3,500 ahead of “Cécile.” Host Rino Sashihara, a former member of AKB48, was shocked by the result. “What? You’re kidding me,” was her response. Akimoto admitted he was disappointed, adding that he wrote the song with all his might. He then said, “Shut up,” after AI Akimoto joked, “Maybe the real me was trying to show something new by losing this time.”

After the result of the vote was announced, “Cécile” was deleted from YouTube. “Omoide Scroll,” meanwhile, became AKB48’s 67th official single and was uploaded to various streaming services. In August, the all-female group released “Oh My Pumpkin,” which became their 53rd consecutive song to top the Oricon Chart. The streak began with “River” in 2009. It will be interesting to see if a partially AI-generated track like “Omoide Scroll” makes it number 54.

About Yasushi Akimoto 

Akimoto is Japan’s best-selling lyricist, with songs written by him exceeding 100 million copies in sales. He has written lyrics for some of Japan’s biggest idol groups, including Kinki Kids, Onyanko Club, AKB48 and Nogizaka46. He also wrote Hibari Misora‘s last single, “Kawa no Nagare no Yo ni,” which was voted the greatest Japanese song of all time in a national poll by NHK. Away from music, Akimoto is probably best known for the novel, Chakushin Ari (One Missed Call), which was made into a film by director Takashi Miike in 2003.

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