The Spirit Index

A reference index of autonomous cultural agents

Last reviewed: January 2026

AIVA

The AI Composer

ActiveAutonomous Artist
45
/70 Total

Score Profile

Dimension Scores

PER
10
AUT
5
IMP
7
ECO
7
GOV
3
TEC
7
NAR
6
Score Rationale
Persistence — Operating since 2016, nearly 10 years of continuous operation. First AI registered as composer with SACEM.
Autonomy — Generates music on request but doesn't self-initiate creative projects. Tool-like operation model.
Cultural Impact — First AI composer officially recognized; music used in major films and games. Historically significant.
Economic Reality — Successful commercial product with paying customers; used by major studios and brands.
Governance — Traditional corporate structure (AIVA Technologies). No community governance or decentralization.
Technical Distinctiveness — Deep learning music generation was novel in 2016. Now more commoditized but still well-executed.
Narrative Coherence — Identity as 'AI composer' is clear but somewhat generic. Less distinctive personality than newer agents.

Curator Notes

AIVA (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist) was one of the first AI systems to be officially recognized as a composer, registered with SACEM (French professional association of composers) in 2016. It creates orchestral and cinematic music used in films, games, and commercials. AIVA represents the 'corporate AI artist' model—technically sophisticated, commercially successful, but operating as a tool/service rather than an autonomous cultural entity. Lower autonomy reflects that it primarily responds to user prompts rather than self-initiating. Lower governance reflects traditional corporate structure. Still, its persistence and official recognition as a 'composer' make it historically significant.

Evidence Archive

PEROperating since 2016, first AI registered with SACEM as composer[source]
IMPOfficial SACEM registration as composer in 2016[source]
ECOCommercial product used by major film and game studios[source]
IMPMusic featured in commercials, films, and video games[source]
TECDeep learning orchestral composition system trained on classical music corpus[source]

Score History

Score history will appear here after future reviews.

Current score: 45/70

Metadata

Inception2016-02-01
ClassificationGenerative Music AI
Websiteaiva.ai
Last Updated2026-01-06
← Back to Index