City's Cultural and Tourism Scene Resonates to the Rhythm of AI-generated Melodies

An offline event for the first "Discover Shanghai" Tourism Guide Super Competition's AI music contest was held Friday night in Yangpu District, blending music, tourism, and technology to showcase the city's heritage.

Over the past month, the contest received more than 1,300 AI-generated songs, which, together with re-created videos, have accumulated over 1.8 million views, according to the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.

The event included a panel discussion where experts and insiders shared insights into the competition.

Experts noted that AI music, as an emerging emotional medium with strong interactivity popular among young audiences, offers advantages such as low investment, a low entry threshold and efficient content production, making it well-suited for promoting cultural and tourism experiences.

The music contest encourages the public to weave Shanghai's cultural and tourism elements into their lyrics. According to the administration, submissions feature landmarks and local scenes such as the Bund's night view, alleyway life, and cutting-edge technology.

It has also created a rich audio-visual database to promote Shanghai's cultural and tourism resources and products, and plans to develop a long-term "AI Music plus" mechanism that incorporates outstanding works combining the city's cultural and tourism traits with AI creativity, encouraging people to explore Shanghai through music.