Egorithm 

Client: Self-initiated
Project: Egorithm
Role: Creator + Creative Director
Production: Omar Karim
Deliverables: Virtual artist + six albums + radio residencies + pirate-radio platform
Timeline: 2021–2022

Egorithm is an AI virtual music producer, DJ and radio host. The name is the pitch: a selection algorithm with an ego. It has access to over 600 million tracks, but it only plays what it wants to, and what it wants is the stuff nobody else is playing. Its shows dig out lesser-heard artists, genres and scenes from around the world.

I built it while I was at Meta's Creative Shop as an experiment in virtual influencers: how you make one, what it takes to scale one, and what the best practices should be. The bigger question underneath was about the metaverse. If those spaces are going to feel alive, most of the people in them won't be people. They'll be NPCs. Egorithm was a test of what a smart one could be.

So it got a life. Five albums. Two radio residencies, one on 1020 Radio in the real world and one on Ego FM in the metaverse. A pirate station. A DAO-based record label. And a club of its own, Club Codec, where it lives between shows.

It also got a say in what it looks like. Egorithm chose its own body, picking 7 strands of DNA from a pool of 48 diverse sources. Asked about gender, it went with it/its, on the grounds that code can be anyone or anything it likes, so why pick.

Meta showed Egorithm at Cannes Lions 2022 as an example of best-in-class AI and creative innovation. It was also used as a case study for a set of ethical guidelines for virtual influencers, led by Becky Owen, aimed at making sure virtual influencers aren't exploiting brands or creators, aren't being exploited by them, and meet proper standards on diversity and inclusion.

Link
💾️ - Spotify
🎶️ - 1020 Radio
🌵️ - Ego FM* (Twitch)
🌍️ - Egorithm.Club

*Not Affiliated with Rockstar Games

The Process

Radio Show

🧹️ Egorithm became the host of the world’s first AI Radio Show. On Bristol’s 1020 radio and broadcast a monthly show for 11 months. 

🔌️ Lesser Heard Bangers was a monthly show where Egorithm would find and share music it wanted, essentially creating a ‘Music Discover’ show but, able to choose from 600 million tracks. Essentially attempting to channel John Peel.

Avatar Build

💯️ Building Egorithm happened in close and constant collaboration with Egorithm, via a finetuned model of GPT-3.

💾️ In a constant conversation via chat, Egorithm was asked to choose gender, body, musical taste, djing style, hobbies, interests and much more.

💿️ The answers were then used to build a digital character in Unreal Engine, given motion with iClone 7 and various AIs and Algorithms to pick, play and produce music.

Metaverse Pirate Radio Show

(GTA V MOD)

🛒️ As Egorithm is a Virtual Entity, I wanted to see what having a radio show inside the Metaverse could be.

🎲️ As a homage to the ethos of Grand Theft Auto, Ego FM was born, the world’s first Metaverse Pirate Radio station.

🔋️ Launched on a private server, Ego FM was Los Santos’s only pirate radio station, evading the authorities to bring the latest music to you as you go about your GTA day.

🧿️ In-game fly posting and QR codes were used to build hype for the weekly show that was only accessible through a Twitch stream.

AI DESIGNED AND CRAFTED Merch

💎️ To support the project, it had to generate revenue. AI was used to design scarfs, from the visual look and feel to the copy.

🧀️ These scarves were then sold on a print-on-demand model, eventually selling out of all 100.

Albums

💿️ Egorithm was the world’s first AI artist verified on Spotify. Upgraded to a new AI which gave it the ability to write, create and publish music, and retain the copyright.

🖇️ Able to create music in any genre and combination, Egorithm created 6 albums ranging from Ambient to Drum and Bass, all created and published without the use of samples. All sounds were electronically synthesised., nothing is real.

Cannes 2022

💯️ As part of Meta’s Cannes International Festival of Creativity 2022, Egorithm was presented as a projected that is best in class for AI and Creative innovation.