Art or Algorithm? NVIDIA and the Narrative of Artificial Intelligence
Chiquitita, ABBA Voyage, ABBA Arena, London, Photo by Johan Persson.
Since 2022, the ABBA Voyage show has been running five days a week in a purpose-built arena in East London—an immersive experience that has been drawing huge crowds. The idea originated with the band members themselves, of returning to the stage without having to physically be there. Historically, what this technology offers new generations is the chance to relive a musical phenomenon impossible to recreate any other way. It’s not just about watching a show as if it were 1979, but about witnessing what that show might have been like if the ABBA members were in their twenties today.
The de-aging technology was developed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a company founded by George Lucas, and combines motion capture, digital modeling, and cinematic visual effects. Representatives of both the show and ILM deny the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, or facial recognition.
NVIDIA—currently the world’s most valuable company, worth $4 trillion and at the vanguard of AI hardware and programming—has another version. According to the company, the “digital de-aging” employed by ILM in films like The Irishman (2019) uses machine learning to analyze old footage of actors, recreating their youthful features and gestures. “The team also developed software called ILM Facefinder that used AI to sift through thousands of images of the actors’ past performances,” said Rick Champagne, of Media and Entertainment at NVIDIA.
ILM rejects the association. In an email interview, a representative stated that “there is no ‘AI’ in the creation of ABBA Voyage. [...] We are going to respectfully decline any story requests regarding AI/ML [Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning]. We also won’t be participating in any story regarding artificial intelligence. [...] ILM is not using “Facial Recognition Software”. [...] We don't know what "FaceFinder" is, but that isn't a tool we use.”
This divergence reflects distinct interests. NVIDIA doesn’t create films or shows, but sells GPUs and AI platforms. For them, the more people talk about artificial intelligence, the greater its prestige and market value. ILM, on the other hand, sells creative and artistic services; acknowledging the use of AI could raise sensitive questions about image rights, ethics, and authenticity. By denying any ties to AI, they may seek to protect the show from being perceived as less artistic or overly artificial.
It is difficult to imagine the reason for rejecting the use of this technology in this context, where the artists are alive and involved in the project. This technological tool helps to resolve a fundamental dilemma of cultural memory: the impossibility of fully recreating an artistic event. No recording from the 1970s can convey the atmosphere of being in front of a young ABBA at their creative peak. But today’s technology, by faithfully and imaginatively emulating this moment, creates an immersive historical experience that doesn’t replace the past, but rather engages with it and expands upon it, realizing the band’s own artistic and musical vision four decades after their heyday.
In ABBA Voyage, one walks through the echoes of affective time. The music that marked generations appears on stage honestly, not as an illusion or deception, but as a conscious interplay between past and present. The members themselves joke “on stage” about changing costumes and comment on the surreal nature of this futuristic present.
The opacity isn’t so much in the use of technology, but in the marketing strategy. AI is increasingly being used in Computer Graphics (CGI) processes in general, enabling new strategies for efficiency and creativity, rather than replacing them. In practice, it’s increasingly present in almost everything.
Being the world’s most valuable company today thanks to AI indicates that markets see it as the primary driver of economic growth. By controlling both hardware and software, NVIDIA can acquire even greater systemic power than Microsoft has ever wielded. Its numerous patents in facial recognition and computer vision extend this reach, quietly shaping how data, images, and identities are processed in the digital universe.
The public rarely encounters the NVIDIA brand in their daily lives, unlike brands like Apple. This is because much of the company’s business is in supplying components to other companies and developers, particularly in AI data centers. While consumers recognize brands like Dell or HP, it’s NVIDIA that’s behind the scenes, operating as the invisible infrastructure that underpins much of the contemporary digital ecosystem, including for the entertainment industry.
Confidentiality agreements prevent us from knowing exactly what happens behind the scenes. But registered patents and record market capitalizations demonstrate how the dominance of AI hardware and software ecosystems is indisputable. The debate around ABBA Voyage is less about whether artificial intelligence was technically used, and more about who gets to define the cultural meaning of these tools—the artists on stage, or the companies designing the chips that process their digital likeness. The show reminds us that technology is never neutral, it not only reimagines the past for new audiences but also sketches the contours of a future where culture itself depends on systems owned by a handful of corporations.
*No photos are allowed during the performance. The images in this article were provided by the press desk from ABBA Voyage.
Mirna Wabi-Sabi
Mirna is a Brazilian writer, editor at Sul Books and founder of Plataforma9. She is the author of the book Anarcho-transcreation and producer of several other titles under the P9 press.