Brian May Reverses Course on AI, Still Torn Over ABBA Voyage-Style Queen Avatar Show

Queen guitarist Brian May says he has reversed his earlier, more accepting view of artificial intelligence, telling Absolute Radio’s Leona Graham in an interview broadcast around September 15 and 16, 2026, that the technology now needs to be actively resisted. In the same conversation, May said he had seriously developed plans for an ABBA Voyage-style immersive avatar show built around Queen, only to pull back once he realized the project could not be done without heavy use of AI.

• May once compared AI’s arrival to the Industrial Revolution and treated it as unstoppable; he now says it must be “controlled.”
• He wants UK leadership, naming Andy Burnham, to halt new data centre construction with an immediate moratorium.
• ABBA Voyage, running in London’s purpose-built ABBA Arena since May 2022, had passed four million visitors as of April 2026.
• Kiss unveiled a comparable avatar concert, produced with Pophouse Entertainment and Industrial Light & Magic, at their farewell Madison Square Garden show on December 2, 2023, with a planned 2028 Las Vegas launch.

Why Brian May Says He Changed His Mind on AI

May told Graham that his earlier outlook on AI was one of resignation. “I’ve changed, really. In the beginning, I thought, ‘Well, this is just like the Industrial Revolution, and it’s pointless to even think about it ’cause it’s gonna come, and we can’t do anything about it.’ I now feel differently. I feel like we have to resist, and we have to limit its scope. We have to control it very, very seriously and very quickly,” he said.

He argued that AI systems only mimic thought rather than genuinely reason, and accused them of relying on copying and stealing existing material while convincingly imitating human output. “The funny thing is they don’t think, these A.I. machines. It looks like they’re thinking, but they’re not really thinking, they are copying, they are stealing from everything,” he said, adding a warning that the balance of power could tip away from humans: “they will be able to, well, reverse the control, and it’s already happening. They’re already breaking out.”

May also pointed to how AI has quietly embedded itself into everyday routines without users choosing it, singling out the automatic AI-generated summaries that now appear on top of Google search results even when unrequested.

Brian May’s Data Centre Warning to Andy Burnham

May directed sharp criticism at data centres, arguing they are already causing environmental and social harm in the United States and could do the same in Britain if left unchecked. He called the expansion of this infrastructure a growing danger to the countryside and to communities, and said it must not be allowed to take hold in the UK the way it has elsewhere.

He specifically appealed to Andy Burnham to act, saying, “please, this is your job now. You have to put a moratorium on these data centers right now before it’s too late.”

What Brian May Said About a Queen Avatar Show

Asked whether he and Queen’s surviving members might ever stage something similar to ABBA Voyage, May confirmed the idea had gone well beyond casual conversation. “Yes, we looked at it very seriously, particularly after I saw the [Las Vegas] Sphere and what the Eagles did with the Sphere, which I thought was amazing. And I spent a lot of time planning out what I thought could be a Queen show,” he said.

He explained that he ultimately stepped away from the concept because it depends on extensive AI use, along with everything that entails. “I’ve kind of backed off now because you can’t do it without massive use of A.I., with all the consequences of that,” he said.

May also wrestled openly with a more philosophical question: whether applying AI to Queen’s own catalogue would still amount to a form of theft. “Now, in some ways, I don’t wanna be stealing the work of other people. If you’re stealing your own work, I’m not quite sure where I stand on it, ’cause you would be stealing from the Queen oeuvre, you know, which maybe is okay because that’s ours. But at the same time, you’re adding to the stresses that A.I. is putting on the world,” he said.

Despite his hesitation, May said the appeal of a lasting Queen showcase has not disappeared entirely. “I think it would be great to have a permanent place where people could go and feel like they’re seeing us play live in our peak, maybe all over the world, maybe at all points in time,” he said, before summing up his uncertainty: “The doors are open, but I don’t know if we’re gonna walk through.”

How ABBA Voyage and Kiss’s Avatar Show Compare

ABBA Voyage takes place inside the ABBA Arena, a venue built specifically for the show in east London, seating around 3,000 people. It uses digital “ABBAtars” recreating the group as they looked in 1979, performing alongside a 10-piece live band, and reportedly sold more than 380,000 tickets within its first weeks after opening in May 2022. The production had surpassed four million total visitors by April 2026 and continues to sell out.

Kiss revealed their own version of an avatar concert during their final live show at Madison Square Garden in New York on December 2, 2023. That production is being co-produced with Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish company behind ABBA Voyage, with avatars built by Industrial Light & Magic, and is scheduled to open in Las Vegas in 2028.

More Info

• Queen’s Brian May Changes His Mind About A.I., Calls for Resistance | rockcelebrities.net
• BRIAN MAY Says He Has Changed His Mind About A.I., Is Open To Idea Of ABBA-Style QUEEN Avatar Show | Blabbermouth
• Brian May is weighing up the pros and cons of an Abba Voyage-style avatar show for Queen. "The doors are open, but I don’t know if we’re gonna walk through." | Louder / Classic Rock
• Brian May backs away from Queen avatar show over AI concerns | inavateonthenet.net
• Brian May Was Creating a Queen Avatar Show: Here’s Why He Stopped | Ultimate Classic Rock
• Brian May has backed off plans for Queen hologram show due to AI | Far Out Magazine
• Brian May on why he’s changed his mind on AI: “We have to resist. We have to control it very, very seriously and very quickly" | MusicRadar