ABBA Musician Bjorn Ulvaeus Says He's Using AI to Help Write New Musical
ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus is testing out AI-generated music to help him partially compose a musical
'A misconception is that AI can write a whole song. It's lousy at that — very bad. And thank God! It's very bad at lyrics as well. But it can give you ideas,' Ulvaeus said during a panel at SXSW London
The musician didn't share exact details about the musical he is writing, but said it was about three-quarters writtenABBA's Björn Ulvaeus is testing the waters when it comes to AI-generated music.
Speaking at a SXSW London panel titled The Future of Entertainment on Wednesday, June 4, the "Dancing Queen" musician, 80, opened up about using artificial intelligence (AI) to help him partially compose a musical.
'It is such a great tool,' Ulvaeus said during the panel Wednesday, per the Hollywood Reporter. 'It's unimaginable that you can bounce back and forth with a machine, or a software, which can give you ideas to go in various different directions.'
Ulvaeus didn't share specific details about the music he is currently working on, but he shared that it is about three-quarters written and clarified that AI was acting as "another songwriter in the room," not that it was writing entire songs.
'A misconception is that AI can write a whole song. It's lousy at that — very bad. And thank God! It's very bad at lyrics as well. But it can give you ideas,' Ulvaeus continued.
'You have written a lyric about something, and you're stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style. So you can prompt the lyric and the style you want, asking, 'Where would you go from here?' And it usually comes up with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea,' he added. 'That's how it works.'
Ulvaeus also cracked a joke, saying that AI would be incapable of writing an ABBA song.
'It says, 'No, we can't do that,'' he said, before joking that AI is good for a few things — unlike his ABBA co-writer Benny Andersson, AI 'is quicker and does exactly what you tell it.'
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Ulvaeus' thoughts on AI-generated music are controversial ones — at least compared to other musicians. In April 2024, over 200 artists banded together to sign an open letter denouncing "AI-music generation technology" with the help of the Artists Rights Alliance.
"We, the undersigned members of the artist and songwriting communities, call on AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists," the petition began.
"Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity and in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere," it continued. "Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders."
Billie Eilish, Billy Porter, Brothers Osborne, Camila Cabello, Darius Rucker, FINNEAS, Imagine Dragons, J Balvin, Jonas Brothers, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Metro Boomin, Miranda Lambert, Noah Kahan, Norah Jones, Pearl Jam, Sheryl Crow, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Zayn Malik were among the many artists joining together.
Artists such as Paul McCartney, Dua Lipa, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Sting and Ed Sheeran have also been vocal about AI's invading "the creative sector" in a letter to The Times UK in February this year.
In the letter, the musicians argued that there is 'no moral or economic argument for stealing our copyright. Taking it away will devastate the industry and steal the future of the next generation.'
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However, not all musicians are opposed to the emerging technology. Zedd argued to PEOPLE last year that musicians have been using a version of AI for years, citing music softwares that create instrumental sounds from the push of a button.
"It's just that we haven't labeled it 'AI,'" he told PEOPLE amid a partnership with Intel for an AI experience.
"I wouldn't be able, and I would have never been able, to make the music I make if it wasn't for AI," he added. "I'm excited for AI to get more useful, more applicable so that I can reach the goal of finishing music faster — so I don't have to let people wait another decade for another album."
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