Although the issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominated Ulvaeus's speech, it was not the final destination of his address, but rather the catalyst for a deeper consideration.
Driven by AI's truly impressive capabilities to generate seamless musical compositions and select impactful words, Ulvaeus posed the critical question: Is AI capable of moving its audience and conveying intense emotions, such as those of lived experience?
At this point, the creator shared the words of historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, which deeply influenced him. "Anything made of words will increasingly be taken over by AI," Harari claims. However, as Ulvaeus explained, music inherently contains a structural ambiguity. Songs are simultaneously music and language, yet at the same time, they are neither, going beyond the rules of both worlds.
For him, as he pointed out, "The song is not just a product. It is evidence"—evidence of life and lived experience. Does the source of an emotion matter, then? Does it matter whether what moves us comes from a human or an algorithm? His answer is affirmative: it does matter.
And his hope for the future rests precisely on this vision: that people will continue to seek the origin and source of things, yearning for lived creativity and the emotions it evokes. This is also the legacy for future generations.