Haderlap urges Europe to act independently on artificial intelligence

Writer Maja Haderlap has urged Europe to strengthen its independence in dealing with artificial intelligence, warning that AI companies are buying up antiquarian books to train their systems. She made the remarks as the International Bruckner Festival opened in Linz on Sunday, ORF reported.

This year’s festival is themed “Endlich”, a word with several meanings. Haderlap, the festival’s guest speaker, said the systematic purchase of antiquarian books across Europe amounted to “cultural expropriation” aimed at creating a monopoly over cultural opinion.

Although artificial intelligence offered people opportunities that had previously been difficult to imagine, she said its implementation was also advancing a form of power politics and economics that could shake the foundations of democracy.

“The relationship between humans and machines needs correcting,” Haderlap said. She called for systems to be used in a way that served people and conserved resources while protecting rights and dignity. Europe, she said, had not yet exhausted its possibilities for establishing safeguards for people and nature.

Vice Chancellor and Culture Minister Andreas Babler also addressed artificial intelligence. He said a piece of music generated by AI had recently been recommended to him, prompting him to question whether the original hope had been that machines would take over work and give people more time for creativity, art and the good things in life.

Artificial intelligence was now beginning to compose music itself, Babler said, putting economic pressure on the people whose work had enabled such systems to learn.

“Technological progress is not automatically social progress,” Babler said. Referring to the festival’s theme, he argued that politicians needed to act on issues including climate change and artificial intelligence. They should aim to set policies whose effects lasted beyond their own time in office, he said.

Upper Austria Governor Thomas Stelzer said artificial intelligence needed regulation, but warned against setting ambitious European goals and imposing extensive rules and bans before knowing how those goals could be achieved.

Stelzer also promised that cultural institutions would not face cuts or austerity programmes. Culture was an important force in shaping society, he said, sensing developments in society and bringing people together at a time of increasing polarisation.

Festival programme

The classical music festival runs until September 30, with 19 events at the Brucknerhaus and other venues in Linz. It is the first programme under new artistic director Norbert Trawöger.

The programme began on September 4, Bruckner’s birthday, with the “Klassische Klangwolke”, performed by the Filarmonica della Scala under Riccardo Chailly. The closing event is scheduled for October 11, the 130th anniversary of Bruckner’s death, when Franz Welser-Möst and his Cleveland Orchestra will perform at the Brucknerhaus in a concert that is already sold out.

Other symphonic highlights include performances by the Bruckner Orchestra Linz under Markus Poschner on September 13 and Anna Rakitina on September 19, the Mahler Academy Orchestra under Philipp von Steinaecker on September 16, and the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Singers under Anja Bihlmaier in Brahms’s “Requiem” on September 30.

On September 15, Austrofred and the Atalante Quartet will present “Heast Bruckner”, which brings Anton Bruckner back to Earth to investigate contemporary music for God. Actor Lars Eidinger and drummer George Kranz will perform at Posthof on September 18.