Magnusson examines the growing role of generative AI in today’scultural life, where people increasingly use AI to write, think, seekadvice, and create digital “content”. This rapid spread also bringsunease, as AI begins to take on tasks once seen as distinctlyhuman. Drawing on his work in the Intelligent Instruments research project, Prof. Magnusson discusses what happens whenAI becomes part of designing and performing new musical instruments. The lecture explores how musicians understandagency, intention, emotion, and system behaviour when working with AI-driven tools, and how such technologies are reshapingmusical thinking and creative practice. By using musical instruments as epistemic tools, Magnusson considers how new technologies are reshaping musical thought and creative practice in unprecedented ways.
Thor Magnusson is a Research Professor at the University of Iceland and Professor of Future Music at the University of Sussex. His work centres on how digital technologies shape musical creativity, combining software development, composition, performance, and theoretical research grounded in the philosophyof technology and cognitive science. He co-founded ixi audio, developing influential audio software and live-coding environments. Magnusson leads the Intelligent Instruments Lab atthe University of Iceland and is a member of the ExperimentalMusic Technologies Lab at Sussex. His publications include Sonic Writing (Bloomsbury) and Live Coding: A User’s Manual (MIT Press).
Guests can participate in the lecture online. A Webex link to the event can be requested at doktorattyrbrucknerunirat.
