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Self-guided student course

What is the role of AI in songwriting?

Test a Songwriter Bot, write your own lyrics about an Indigenous role model, and decide for yourself where AI fits in songwriting.

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Approx Time to Complete

1.5 Hrs

Recommended grades

6+

You will need
  • A desktop, laptop, or Chromebook with an internet connection (phones work, but a bigger screen is better)
  • No account or sign-in needed
  • About 90 minutes, in one sitting or several

Course Overview

Every song tells a story. In this course you will write song lyrics that tell the story of an Indigenous role model, first on your own and then with the help of a generative AI Songwriter Bot, and compare the results.

Along the way you will test the Songwriter Bot to discover how generative AI hallucinates, shows bias, and misses recent events. You will learn how to write a good prompt, hear what Juno-nominated musician YB Nakota and Animikii founder Jeff Ward think about AI as a songwriting tool, and think through copyright, plagiarism, and your school's AI policy.

The course is split into two sections, just like the instructor-led workshop:

  1. Songwriting (Lessons 1 to 3). Privacy best practices, limitations of generative AI, and writing a chorus without AI.
  2. Evaluate AI Songwriting (Lessons 4 and 5). Prompt writing, generating and scoring lyrics, and the ethics and law of AI in creative work.

Your answers are saved in your browser as you go. In Lesson 5 you can copy or download everything you wrote as a workbook.

Course Outline

Minds On: Every Song Tells a Story

10 minutes

Key terms, and the ground rules for using generative AI safely.

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Action: Test the Songwriter Bot

20 minutes

Four songwriting tests that reveal hallucinations, bias, language bias, and out-of-date knowledge.

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Action: Pick a Story and Write a Chorus

15 minutes

Choose an Indigenous role model, capture the elements of their story, and write a chorus without AI.

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Action: Design a Prompt and Generate Lyrics

15 minutes

Learn what makes a good prompt, generate lyrics for your role model, and score them against your own.

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Consolidation: Does AI Replace a Songwriter?

15 minutes

Hear from musician YB Nakota and Animikii founder Jeff Ward, learn about copyright, plagiarism, and attribution, and weigh in on your school AI policy.

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Extensions

15 - 90 minutes

Optional readings on bias in language models, industry opinions, and copyright law, plus a challenge to write the whole song.

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