DARK TRANQUILLITY's MIKAEL STANNE On Artificial Intelligence: It's 'Exciting', 'Fascinating' And 'Scary'

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global, DARK TRANQUILLITY and THE HALO EFFECT frontman Mikael Stanne weighed in on a debate about the variety of dangers A.I. (artificial intelligence) poses, ranging from the small to, potentially, the existential. Asked if it is scary that A.I. can surpass human capabilities in many domains, such as creativity and problem-solving, Mikael said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, it is, of course. Yeah, I like technology. I like new ideas. I like new progress. But also I was very hopeful. In my teens, when the Internet kind of started happening, I was, like, 'This is the coolest thing ever. It's gonna change the world just because finally we have access to all the information we need. So nobody has to believe anything anymore. We can just know because the information is there. It's like the best library in the world that is open to everyone. And everybody will have kind of access to the same information.' And I dreamt of the world without religion and belief in pseudoscience and all that stuff. And I was, like, 'Oh, man, imagine.' But, of course, the opposite happened. And it's the same here [with A.I.]. I think it can be a great tool, of course, for a lot of people, and I think we will view it as a great tool in the future, but for now, it does seem scary because we know what can be done. In the wrong hands, these are not tools, but — well, they are tools, but for misinformation rather than to help the creative process or something like that. So that part is scary and we need to be very wary of how it's used and also kind of implement these safeguards so that you can easily actually see if it is something that is altered and not an original thing. But let's see. It's exciting because it's new and it's fascinating… And it's really difficult to wrap your head around, because, yeah, every month there's a new version of things coming out that has new features and new things that can do it so much better. So, yeah, these quantum leaps are happening every six months or more, and it's gonna move even faster. So, yeah, it is scary. I talk a lot about it with some of my journalist friends, and they are worried about it too. Sure, you can go, yeah, A.I. is not gonna replace anyone, but maybe a guy who really knows how to use A.I. will replace someone who doesn't."

Stanne added: "You can have some fun with it, sure. But you can also totally just use it for the wrong reasons, or we just make things easier and more streamlined and boring and not creative. And I think that's the scary part. The biggest newspaper here in Gothenburg, they use it on every third article or something like that. And you go, like, 'Oh, yeah. Okay. Is that where we're going now?' Just compiling information, just like a journalist would, but it's faster but it's less of a person there, there's less of a editorial kind of spin on things. And if people are not reading enough as it is now — you only read the headlines in the newspapers and you kind of get the gist and you go, like, 'Yeah, I'm moving on,' your attention span is very limited — then this is not gonna make it any better, for sure."

DARK TRANQUILLITY's latest album, "Endtime Signals", was released on August 16 via Century Media Records.

In July 2023, guitarist Christopher Amott announced his departure from DARK TRANQUILLITY. He said in a statement that there was "no bad blood at all" between him and the other members of DARK TRANQUILLITY and explained that it was "time" for him to concentrate on some new music that he was "very proud of". He has since been replaced on the road by Peter "Pepe" Lyse Karmark (HATESPHERE).

The 46-year-old Amott, who was a founding member of ARCH ENEMY, alongside his brother Michael Amott, officially joined DARK TRANQUILLITY in 2020 after previously being a member of the band's touring lineup since 2017.

Three years ago, DARK TRANQUILLITY parted ways with drummer Anders Jivarp and bassist Anders Iwers.

Jivarp was an original member of DARK TRANQUILLITY, having played on all of the band's releases to date. Iwers joined DARK TRANQUILLITY in 2016 and played on the group's previous two albums, 2016's "Atoma" and 2020's "Moment".

Jivarp and Iwers have since been replaced by Joakim Strandberg Nilsson (IN MOURNING, WOLVES WITHIN) and Christian Jansson (GRAND CADAVER, PAGANDOM),respectively.