GRAI: AI Aimed to Make Music More Social, Not Replace Artists

Today's AI music startups like Suno and Udio provide technology that leverages artificial intelligence for music generation. But a new company, GRAI, believes most people don't want to generate music from scratch using AI — they prefer to remix tunes, share them with friends, or play around with tracks by changing their style just for fun.

Of course, whether and to what extent artists allow others to play with their tracks is a decision they should make themselves.

Music lab GRAI, now backed by a $9 million seed round, aims to give artists that control while leveraging AI to change how consumers interact with music.

Founded by Belarusians who previously sold their video creation app VOCHI to Pinterest, the company is experimenting with new AI music products. Currently, these include the remixing app Music with Friends for iOS and another AI music playground for Android. These apps, along with future releases, will help GRAI understand how consumers want to engage with music beyond AI-powered creation or passive listening.

Image credit:GRAI

"The idea we're building the company around is what the next evolution in music AI interaction and consumption can be," explains GRAI co-founder and CEO Ilya Liasun, based in Poland with most of the team. He says the founders started GRAI mainly because music is one of the last major consumer categories that hasn't become 'creator-first.'

"We have problems — discovery is broken, listening is passive, and social context is almost nonexistent," Liasun notes.

Meanwhile, he doesn't believe AI will kill artists and labels, as some fear. Instead, the GRAI team thinks AI can enable new ways to engage with music beyond simply generating a track through generative AI.

The company targets Gen Z and Gen Alpha users, who often discover new music through culture — friends, fandoms, and short-form content like TikTok. These users don't want to be creators or producers; they simply want to participate.

Image credit:GRAI

To power its social apps, GRAI built its own taste and participation graph along with its own infrastructure. It's developing a 'derivatives pipeline' and real-time audio systems that preserve the identity of original tracks while allowing transformation.

As Liasun explains, the company aims to work with artists and labels to legalize this kind of activity. The end result is not more unwanted AI music.

"We don't want to push new genAI slop onto streaming services. We focus on the interaction part," Liasun says.

Image credit:GRAI

The idea is that users can play with tracks inside GRAI's apps — remixing a favorite tune or changing its style. Ultimately, these modified tracks could generate new royalty payments for artists and labels.

The company says it didn't start building its social apps before seeking permission from labels. Instead, Liasun notes, it's talking to them first.

"The main idea is to build a future system where artists can opt in and opt out." That, he says, is a core belief at GRAI: "First, ask owners, then integrate it." (Liasun declined to disclose whether it already has agreements in place or with which companies.)

If this kind of music remixing catches on, GRAI believes it could help people discover new artists and songs beyond larger platforms like Reels, TikTok, or YouTube.

With its initial apps, GRAI hopes to gather consumer feedback — even negative — to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Image credit:GRAI

The company, co-founded by CTO Dima Kamarouski and Andrei Avsievich (President), is now backed by $9 million in seed funding from a round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Inovo vc. Other investors include Tensor Ventures, Tiny.VC, Flyer One Ventures, a16z Scout Fund, and various angels such as Andrew Zhai (ML at Cursor, co-founder of Genova Labs, ex-Pinterest), Greg Tkachenko (founder of Unreal Labs, ex-Snap), Rob Reid (founder of Rhapsody), and Dima Shvets (of MirAI and Reface).