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Thomas Bangalter reflects on Daft Punk’s split: “The last thing I would want to be … in 2023, is a robot”

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Daft Punk‘s Thomas Bangalter has opened up regarding his and former bandmate Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo‘s decision to breakup in 2021.

In an interview with the BBC, Bangalter speaks on Daft Punk’s relationship with technology and how that has been complicated by humanity’s increased reliance on said technology.

“It was an exploration, I would say, starting with the machines and going away from them,” Bangalter explains. “I love technology as a tool [but] I’m somehow terrified of the nature of the relationship between the machines and ourselves.”

Bangalter adds that he has “concerns” regarding the “rise of artificial intelligence,” which stretch “beyond its use in music creation.”

“[Daft Punk] tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can,” Bangalter says. “We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology.”

He concludes, “As much as I love this character, the last thing I would want to be, in the world we live in, in 2023, is a robot.”

Since Daft Punk broke up, Bangalter has composed the music for a new ballet titled Mythologies. The score will be released this Friday.

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