François Pachet
François Pachet is a researcher who builds AI systems for music, first at Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris and then at Spotify. He designed The Continuator, an interactive music improvisation system, and its paper won a best paper award in 2002. He led the ERC-funded Flow Machines project, which produced Daddy's Car and the album Hello World. He was elected a EurAI Fellow in 2014. As of October 2026, he is director of Ynosound and an associate researcher at the LIP6 laboratory.
Timeline
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1987–1988
Lecturing in Kuala Lumpur
He graduates from École des ponts ParisTech in 1987 and then lectures at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur for 18 months.
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1993–1997
Assistant professor in Paris
He is an assistant professor at Pierre and Marie Curie University from 1993 until 1997. In 1997 he joins Sony Computer Science Laboratory Paris to research interactive music listening, composition and performance.
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2002
The Continuator system
He designs The Continuator, an interactive music improvisation system, and its paper wins a best paper award in 2002.
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2014
Elected a EurAI Fellow
He is elected a EurAI Fellow in 2014.
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2016–2017
Flow Machines and Hello World
He leads the ERC-funded Flow Machines project, which produces the song Daddy's Car. That song is made public in early September 2016, and the album Hello World is released in 2017.
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2017
A creator research lab at Spotify
He joins Spotify in 2017 to lead a new Creator Technology Research Lab in Paris.
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2023
Leaving Spotify for Ynosound
He leaves Spotify in 2023 to start Ynosound, which specializes in AI-assisted music composition, and Imagine All The People.
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As of October 2026
Directing Ynosound
He is director of Ynosound, which he started after leaving Spotify in 2023, and an associate researcher at the LIP6 laboratory.
Sources and credits
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- François Pachet - Wikipedia
- François Pachet: the first researcher who composed an AI music album
- Awards | European Association for Artificial Intelligence
- How Sony Flow Machines’ AI takes itself for the Beatles : Makery
- Innovating for Writers and Artists – Spotify for Artists
- Seminar "Why does musical AI generate music that sounds so convincing yet so often uninteresting?" by François Pachet - 3IA Côte d’Azur - Interdisciplinary Institute for Artificial Intelligence
- Sónar 2027 - François Pachet
- François Pachet - Founder, inventor, AI and music pioneer