Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus is using AI to write new musical
Abba singer Bjorn Ulvaeus has revealed that he is currently using artificial intelligence to create a new musical.
Ulvaeus made the revelation during a recent discussion at SXSW London and revealed that he was around three-quarters close to completing the project thanks to the help of AI, which he described as a “powerful collaborator”.
Although the Swedish musician refrained from revealing the subject of the musical, he delved into great detail about how he’s been able to use AI as assistance during the creative process, claiming, “It’s fantastic. It is such a great tool. It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame.”
He continued: “It’s unimaginable that you can bounce back and forth with a machine, or a software, which can give you ideas to build in various different direction.”
Ulvaeus also clarified that he’s not using AI to do the work on his behalf, claiming that it is more to bounce ideas off rather than to generate content, claiming it is “a misconception that AI can write a song — it’s lousy at that. And thankfully, it’s very bad at lyrics as well.”
The Abba founder elaborated: “It can prompt a lyric if you have written a lyric about something and you’re stuck, maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style. You can prompt the lyric with the style you want again and ask: How would you expand? Where would you go from here?”
He also said that ChatGPT “usually comes up with garbage” but occasionally it can provide something that provides “another idea”. Ulveaus also said of AI: “It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn’t think of before.”
The growth of AI in the music and movie industries has been a divisive topic during the last two years. Natasha Lyonne recently received backlash for using the technology to create her directorial debut, Uncanny Valley.
Defending her decision to team up with the AI-based studio Asteria, which she co-founded, Lyonne said in a recent interview: “If we could just wrangle this artist-first idea before it becomes industry standard to not do it that way, that’s something I would be interested in working on. Almost like we are not going to go quietly into the night.”
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