A study on the emotional accuracy of generative AI music from the perspective of the “Emotion Wheel” theory

Abstract

Introduction In the contemporary landscape of information technology, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in music composition marks a transformative era. This study examines differences in emotional expression accuracy between AI-generated music and compositions by traditional musicians, with a particular focus on Suno AI within the theoretical framework of Plutchik’s “Wheel of Emotions.” Emotional expression accuracy is defined as the degree of correspondence between the intended target emotion of a musical piece and the emotion perceived by listeners. Methods An empirical approach was adopted to compare AI-generated and human-composed music and to evaluate the accuracy of emotional expression across four primary high-intensity emotions (ecstasy, rage, grief, and terror). A total of 32 musical pieces were analyzed, comprising 16 compositions by traditional composers and 16 works generated by Suno AI. Survey data were collected from 300 university students without formal music training, yielding 283 valid responses. Results The results revealed that emotional expression accuracy differed significantly between human-composed and AI-generated music for rage (χ2 = 40.66, p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.27), ecstasy (χ2 = 25.53, p < 0.001, V = 0.21), and terror (χ2 = 16.46, p < 0.001, V = 0.17), whereas no significant difference was observed for grief (χ2 = 2.44, p = 0.12, V = 0.07). Across emotions, the largest accuracy gap was observed for rage (25.40%), followed by ecstasy (21.50%) and terror (17.00%), while the difference for grief was comparatively smaller (4.20%) and not statistically significant. Discussion These findings suggest that the advantage of human-composed music over AI-generated music may vary across emotional categories, with more pronounced differences observed for high-arousal emotions. The results further indicate that, despite substantial advances in generative systems such as Suno AI, current AI models may still face limitations in representing high-intensity emotional states.