Peter Gabriel Talks About Music Working With Artificial Intelligence

According to Peter Gabriel, the moment has come to build a bio-feedback stage show, which includes getting life-sign readings from performers.

The notion, which the former Genesis vocalist claimed he was “still trying to explore,” has to wait for technological advancements, particularly those involving artificial intelligence (AI). Though, he didn’t mention if the idea may be applied during his forthcoming tour.

Gabriel then explained that he wanted to take “three outputs from each musician – one: their music; two: their body; three: their brain,” which could be used to control lights and image projections. He continued:

“So, for instance, [in] one song, we may have people’s faces like the hall of mirrors at the fairground, and we could have big notes that stretch their faces or fatten them. Or if they’re thinking deep thoughts, maybe they fade away and become more ghostlike or spirit-like. … You would measure whether they’re leaving sort of a beta state and going into alpha gamma waves or whatever.”

He also noted that the required equipment was “definitely” now available and added:

“And there’s a lot of cool AI stuff, which is just about to turn our lives upside-down. I’m probably just as scared [of AI] as everybody else, but I like to jump in the river rather than talk about it. … I do think about it quite a lot, and I think not enough people are thinking about it. … This is something that’s going to have way more impact than the Industrial Revolution and the nuclear bomb. So, if we don’t start anticipating what it might do, it’s going to be too late, because it’s very fast.”

When asked if he believed algorithms could replace human artists, Gabriel explained:

“Most people argue no; I would say they just need better algorithms! … We might as well just grab the algorithms and dance with them, rather than fight them. … Unfortunately, I don’t think my job or anyone’s job is safe from AI. (https://rescueresponse.com) The way to look at it, though, is this amazing tool kit is just coming into our possession and we could do all sorts of extraordinary things, including perhaps – and I do say ‘perhaps’ – protecting our future.

“There is this idea that … when an intelligent species is so smart that it can destroy itself, it very often does. I hope we don’t fall into that trap, but we can have a wonderful party on the way to jumping over the cliff.”