K-pop's biggest music label HYBE looks to lift language barrier with AI

HYBE IM President Chung Wooyong speaks during an interview with Reuters at a company office in Seoul, South Korea, June 22, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL (Reuters) - In a dimly lit recording studio in Seoul, producers at the K-pop music label that brought the world hit boy group BTS are using artificial intelligence to meld a South Korean singer's voice with those of native speakers in five other languages.

The technology enabled HYBE, South Korea's largest music label, to release a track by singer MIDNATT in six languages – Korean, English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese in May.