Are you ready for artificial Mozart and Skrillex? An experiment testing expectancy violation theory and AI music

Abstract

This study employs an experiment to test assessments of music composed by artificial intelligence. We examined the influence of (a) met or unmet expectations about artificial intelligence (AI)-composed music, (b) whether the music is better or worse than expected, and (c) the genre of the evaluation of music using a 2 (expectancy violation vs confirmation) × 2 (positive vs negative evaluation) × 2 (electronic dance music vs classical) design. The relationship between the belief about creative AI and the music evaluation was also analyzed. Participants ( n = 299) in an online survey listened to a randomly assigned music piece. The acceptance of creative AI was found to have a positive relationship with the assessment of AI-composed music. A two-way interaction between the expectancy violation and its valence, and a three-way interaction between the expectancy violation, its valence, and the genre of music were found. Implications for Expectancy Violation Theory and AI applications are discussed.