Nvidia has introduced Fugatto, an AI model capable of generating and modifying music and audio. Targeted at creators in music, film and video game industries, the technology offers novel capabilities such as transforming sounds and modifying voices, though the company has no immediate plans for public release.Unveiled on Monday, Fugatto, short for Foundational Generative Audio Transformer Opus 1, can create sound effects and music from text descriptions. It also boasts unique features, including transforming existing audio, such as converting a piano melody into a human singing voice or altering accents and emotional tones in spoken recordings."Generative AI will bring new capabilities to music, video games and creators," said Bryan Catanzaro, Nvidia's vice president of applied deep learning research. He likened its transformative potential to the impact of computers and synthesisers on music production over the past 50 years.Fugatto joins the growing field of generative audio and video technologies, with notable players including Runway and Meta Platforms. Nvidia stated that its model was trained using open-source data and pointed out the ongoing deliberations about its public release due to potential risks, including misuse for misinformation or copyright infringement.The release of generative AI models has been a contentious topic, particularly in entertainment, where issues of copyright and voice imitation, such as Scarlett Johansson’s accusation against OpenAI, have sparked debate. Nvidia’s cautious approach aligns with others in the industry, like OpenAI and Meta, which have similarly withheld public access to their audio and video-generating models.While Nvidia remains a dominant force in AI hardware and software, its measured stance on Fugatto also show broader industry concerns about the ethical and legal implications of generative AI.