Björn Ulvaeus, a founding member of pop group ABBA, is using artificial intelligence to help write for a new musical.
The Swedish songwriter, 80, opened up about the process during a talk at SXSW London on Wednesday.
“Right now I’m writing a musical, assisted by AI,” Ulvaeus shared, saying that he was “three-quarters” through the creative process, according to Variety.
The project represents his latest experiment in pushing musical boundaries. In 2021, ABBA returned with the album “Voyage” and the virtual concert “ABBA Voyage in London,” which sold over 2 million tickets within its first 19 months, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
The latest project is Ulvaeus’ way of again exploring new directions in music.
“It’s fantastic. It is such a great tool,” he said of using AI as a collaborator. “It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame. It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn’t think of before.”
Ulvaeus, who is also affiliated with the International Confederation of Songwriters and Composers (CISAC), has created a method for using AI in his work. Although he admitted the technology’s shortcomings, saying “It’s lousy at [writing a whole song]” and “very bad at lyrics,” he considered it a useful tool for overcoming creative obstacles.
“You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you’re stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style,” Ulvaeus said. “You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea.”
Ulvaeus has long embraced technology. He recalled how he and ABBA’s Benny Andersson “always wanted the latest thing,” from their first Mini Moog synthesizer to early digital recording technology.
“We were always on the lookout for, you know, you would hear a sound on the record. How was that done? And then you get that stuff,” Ulvaeus said.
Ulvaeus also advocates for artists’ rights. Through his work at CISAC, he pushes to ensure that AI music generators pay royalties to the original creators whose work helps train these systems.
“These AI models wouldn’t exist without the songs that we wrote,” he said.
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