“In terms of what it’s done to societies, it’s been a catastrophe. What it’s done to politics has been completely toxic”: Brian Eno on social media, plus his thoughts on AI

Brian Eno has sprung a surprise new album on the world. Aurum is a new full-length ambient record released exclusively on Apple Music to make use of the tech giant’s Spatial Audio technology. That means you won't be hearing it on Spotify or other streaming services.

It’s his first album since 2022’s ForeverAndEverNoMore and as it’s released via Apple, the electronic pioneer has given an exclusive interview to Zane Lowe of Apple Music and discussed the album, his new-ish book What Art Does, as well as his thoughts about artificial intelligence.

Eno was dabbling in ‘generative’ AI technology long before you, I and the dog next door and as you’d expect has some interesting thoughts about it all.

Inside Brian Eno's Studio | Zane Lowe Interview - YouTube

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Speaking to Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Eno mused, “Talking about AI itself, I’ve always been happy to welcome new technologies and to see what you could do with them that nobody else thought of doing with them, and what things they could do other than those that they were designed for...

"With all music technology, it’s always very interesting that stuff is designed for one reason; and then people start to find new things they could do that are completely beyond what the designer was thinking about".

“The biggest problem for me about AI is not intrinsic to AI. It’s to do with the fact that it’s owned by the same few people, and I have less and less interest in what those people think, and more and more criticisms of what the effect of their work has been.

Turning from AI to social media, Eno says, "I think it's been a catastrophe and mildly useful at the same time. It’s possible for both things to coexist, but I think in terms of what it’s done to societies, it’s been a catastrophe.

"What it’s done to politics has been completely toxic.”

The interview also reveals the sheer scale of Eno’s musical archive – it spans around 10,500 tracks, which he estimates “equates to a listening time of 44 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes, and 28 seconds.”