Francoobla Music seeks backers for AI vs. HI music format
The proposed blind-listening contest would pit 10 AI-assisted tracks against 10 human-created songs before revealing their origins.
Francoobla Music has made a final appeal for broadcasters, television networks, major record labels and investors to take forward “AI vs. HI,” a proposed global music competition built around blind listening to songs created with artificial intelligence and by humans.
The project’s creator, Franco Oblatore, is seeking an established organisation able to evaluate, develop, produce and distribute the format internationally. He said he could no longer carry out the initiative independently after a decade of work, during which he said he devoted about 13 hours a day to it. Oblatore, 78, has 60 years of experience as a musician.
AI vs. HI, meaning Artificial Intelligence versus Human Intelligence, is intended to demonstrate AI’s development while stressing collaboration with human creativity rather than replacement. “The purpose of AI vs. HI is to create a musical environment in which the audience first listens and evaluates, and only afterward discovers how each work was created,” Oblatore said.
The proposed inaugural contest would comprise 20 female-vocal tracks, split equally between human-created and AI-assisted entries. Artists’ identities and each song’s production method would remain undisclosed until voting ended. Tracks would be capped at four minutes, with public digital voting counting for 30% and a jury or executive committee accounting for the other 70%.
The initiative is backed by a catalogue of 200 master tracks featuring the virtual artist Lady Jane. An Oct. 5 proposal described roughly 200 unreleased tracks in five languages and named “Sei Ovunque,” or “You’re Everywhere,” as its official anthem. Draft regulations said AI would operate as a creative assistant guided by human prompts, with artistic choices remaining human-led.
Francoobla Music has cited U.S. Copyright Office Case No. 1-15211873131 and SIAE registration No. 2026/01584 as project documentation. The initial partner outreach focuses on the United States, with possible later presentations in Southeast Asia, China, South Korea, India and Japan.
A first edition was tentatively contemplated for 2027, but the location, broadcaster, production partner and launch date had not been determined. Francoobla Music had previously offered U.S. television networks and streaming platforms a 30-day window to express interest in the format.