TLDR: Lucas Horne, known as ‘The BTO Kid’, a 26-year-old from Nottinghamshire, has found a new way to express himself musically with the help of artificial intelligence. After suffering a severe brain bleed at 17, which left him in a coma for nearly four months and impacted his speech, Horne turned to AI to overcome his vocal challenges. His AI-assisted music has earned him a nomination for the inaugural Future Sound Awards, celebrating AI in music.
Lucas Horne, a 26-year-old artist from Nottinghamshire, has shared his remarkable journey of recovery and musical expression, crediting artificial intelligence for giving him a ‘voice’ he thought was lost. Known as ‘The BTO Kid’ (Beat The Odds), Horne’s story began in December 2016 when, at just 17, he suffered a traumatic brain bleed due to an undiagnosed arteriovenous malformation (AVM). This ‘ticking time bomb’ ruptured, plunging him into a coma for almost four months.
Upon waking, Lucas faced a long and arduous recovery, spending three years in a care home, struggling with basic functions like walking and speaking. Despite these challenges, he found solace in writing, using it as an outlet to document his thoughts and feelings. ‘During my care home days when I couldn’t really express myself very well – I still can’t – but I could write about it, it was an outlet for me,’ Horne stated.
Years of physical and speech therapy followed, but when he finally attempted to record the songs he had meticulously written, he encountered a new hurdle: his voice. ‘It never sounded how I had [it in] my head,’ he explained, noting his monotone speech and difficulty conveying emotion.
This is where artificial intelligence intervened, transforming his musical aspirations into reality. ‘AI has changed my life, absolutely,’ Lucas told Sky News. ‘When I play my music, I’m happy because the words I know mean a lot to me can now be heard by everyone else.’
His innovative use of AI has not only brought him personal fulfillment but also industry recognition. Lucas Horne is now one of 15 creators globally, selected from over 500 entries, to be shortlisted for the inaugural Future Sound Awards. These awards celebrate the burgeoning role of artificial intelligence in music, a field that saw a ‘breakout’ year in 2024 with 60 million users engaging with AI software, according to the International Music Summit’s annual business report.
Horne views his experience as a testament to AI’s positive potential. ‘I’ve been able to use AI to express how I’m feeling,’ he affirmed. ‘It’s been big for me to create [music] that I’m proud of. I can see the arguments [against it], but from my view I know AI helped me create something I couldn’t before. I’m not Adele, but I have been able to make something that I’m proud of and that expresses my view point of what’s happened to me.’
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His shortlisted track, aptly titled ‘AI Gave Me A Voice’, opens with the line, ‘I pinch myself every day because this just can’t be true,’ a sentiment that powerfully encapsulates his journey from a life-altering medical emergency to a celebrated musical artist.
