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\n\tABBA<\/a>\u2018s Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus\u00a0is working on a new musical using artificial intelligence. According to Variety<\/a><\/em>, during a talk at SXSW London on Wednesday (June 4), the 80-year old Swedish pop legend said he\u2019s tapping into AI because he believes it is an excellent creative tool.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRight now I\u2019m writing a musical, assisted by AI,\u201d Ulvaeus said, noting that he\u2019s about three-quarters of the way through the creative process on the unnamed project, the follow-up to the hugely successful pop quartet\u2019s avatar stage show, Voyage<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic. It is such a great tool,\u201d Ulvaeus raved of AI. \u201cIt 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\u2019t think of before.\u201d Unlike many in the industry who fear that AI is an existential threat<\/a> to their existence and the traditional creative process, Ulvaeus is aware of the bugs in the system, which he said have helped him to merge AI with his already formidable songwriting skills.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s lousy at [writing a whole song]\u201d and \u201cvery bad at lyrics,\u201d he said about his AI helpmate, which has allowed him to navigate through some creative dead-ends. \u201cYou can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you\u2019re stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style,\u201d he said. \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tUlvaeus is part of an eclectic lineup for 2025 SXSW London, whose lineup includes Erykah Badu (as DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown), Tems, Mabel, Alice Glass and many more. Penske Media Corporation (which also owns Billboard<\/em>) and the film and production company MRC invested in SXSW in 2021 following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic; two years later, Penske took majority ownership of SXSW.<\/p>\n \n\tThe AI project, whose ultimate form has not yet been announced, is part of Ulvaeus\u2019 ongoing partnership with Pophouse Entertainment, the company behind the ABBA Voyage<\/em> production. The Voyage<\/em> virtual residency opened in London in May 2022 and is slated to run through January 2026. The show is a combination of 10 live performers and digital avatars of the four ABBA members, who have not performed live since their split in December 1982; the group, which also features Agnetha F\u00e4ltskog,\u00a0Benny Andersson and\u00a0Anni-Frid Lyngstad, released their first album in 40 years, Voyage<\/em>, in November 2021.<\/p>\n \n\tThough Ulvaeus is happy to use AI in the creative process, he is also adamant about fighting for artists\u2019 rights in the rapidly evolving digital age. \u201cThese AI models wouldn\u2019t exist without the songs that we wrote,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n