Brian May has backed away from plans for a Queen avatar show because of concerns about artificial intelligence and its environmental impact.
The guitarist spoke with the UK’s Absolute Radio on Sept. 15. He spent months planning but walked away from the whole thing.
“We looked at it very seriously, particularly after I saw the [Las Vegas] Sphere and what the Eagles did with the Sphere, which I thought was amazing,” May told Absolute Radio. “And I spent a lot of time planning out what I thought could be a Queen show. I’ve kind of backed off now because you can’t do it without massive use of A.I., with all the consequences of that.”
May remains conflicted about whether using AI to recreate Queen’s performances is ethically and environmentally justified. “I don’t wanna be stealing the work of other people. If you’re stealing your own work, I’m not quite sure where I stand on it, because you would be stealing from the Queen oeuvre, which maybe is OK, because that’s ours,” he said. “But at the same time, you’re adding to the stresses that A.I. is putting on the world.”
Brian May wants UK leaders to halt construction of new data centers. These buildings destroy neighborhoods and hurt nature, he argues.
“I hate the business of these data centers coming and destroying our countryside,” he said. “This is a big threat, in my opinion, and it will only get bigger and bigger and bigger. The more you give, the more they’ll take, and they destroy communities.”
The guitarist hasn’t closed the door completely on avatar shows. “I think it would be great to have a permanent place where people could go and feel like they’re seeing us play live in our peak, maybe all over the world, maybe at all points in time,” he said. “The doors are open, but I don’t know if we’re gonna walk through.”