Snark Bytes: YouTube Lets You Remix Reality with “Custom Instrumentals” AI Tool

In today’s episode of “Who Needs Musicians Anyway?”, YouTube unveiled its latest push into AI-powered creativity: Custom Instrumentals. The new feature lets creators use AI to whip up tailor-made background tracks for their videos. Finally, your unboxing video can have a soundtrack that sounds like Hans Zimmer if he were raised by TikTok filters. It’s like GarageBand and ChatGPT had a baby, and that baby is here to write your next lo-fi bop.

YouTube promises that Custom Instrumentals will offer “genre-flexible, emotionally adaptive” music generation. Translation: now your vlogs can shift from sad piano to upbeat synth-pop without you having to open another tab. Just describe the vibe—“romantic cyberpunk meditation with a hint of regret”—and let Google’s machine brain do the rest. The tool is being positioned as a gift to creators, which is exactly what the robots want you to believe before they start releasing their own EPs.

I'm sure music industry insiders are thrilled, by which I mean Googling “how to sue an algorithm.” YouTube assures everyone that this tool won’t replace real musicians, just “enhance creative expression,” which is Silicon Valley code for “we fed your discography to the cloud, thanks.”

Coming soon: the AI will also leave passive-aggressive comments on your own track, asking if you considered using a different key.