Can AI Compose a Convincing Beethoven Sonata?
Listen and judge for yourself
Culture
The Honest Broker.
Ted Gioia on music, literature, and the business of culture.
Recent essays
30 of 88Why Don’t Artists Join Together in Co-Op Platforms?
Most of the money in the creative economy goes to corporations and intermediaries. It doesn’t need to work that way.
The AI Business Model Just Collapsed
And what tech leaders must do right now
The Music Innovator Who Lived in a Friend's Basement
But anticipated the rise of techno, disco, rap, and fusion before they even had names
My 10 Rules for Public Speaking
In this article from the archive, I share my best tips for oratorical success
Is the Music Business Collapsing?
The major labels made seven big mistakes—and are now paying the price
42 Milestones in the History of Conversation
From the Burning Bush to ChatGPT
Don’t Monetize Me, Bro!
And Ted learns what’s inside his Amazon profile
14 YouTube Videos I’m Recommending Right Now
Here's what I've been watching lately.
Let’s Kill the Four-Chord Song
The audience has lost interest in it—but what comes next?
Don’t Trust People Who Talk Like This
The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names.
People Are Rejecting Screens—and Returning to Communal Events
The inmates are breaking out of digital prison
Why Everybody Loves Glen Campbell
In 1960, a country boy named Glen Campbell showed up in Los Angeles with a guitar, a pompadour hairdo, and a lean, hungry look....
The AI God Delusion Goes Mainstream
Anthropic insiders are building a religion around Claude—and view the Pope as a competitor in a battle for souls.
17 Observations on Chivalry
They say it died long ago with King Arthur. But did it really?
The Most Dangerous Thing in Culture Right Now is Beauty
A provocative article from the archive (updated and expanded)
Spammers Teach Me Six Ugly Truths About AI Writing
Also details on the new scam targeted at authors
The 50 Essential Western Films
In this final installment of my survey, I cover the turbulent period from 1969 to the present day
AI-Generated Movie Star Has a Meltdown on TV
Hollywood’s plan to replace people with bots took another blow this week
My Favorite Philip K. Dick Novels
Here are seven entry points into the oeuvre of this troubled and troubling sci-fi author
How a Healthy Society Falls Apart
Stefan Zweig's account is almost too strange to believe—but forces us to ask if it could happen again
The Last 24 Hours Are the Opening Scene in a Horror Movie
Eight different insiders have issued warnings—and you need to hear them out
Amazon is Polluted
And I'm not talking about a river in South America
YouTube Videos I’m Recommending Right Now
Here’s a big batch of 14 recent videos. These are keepers.
Wendell Berry’s Nine Rules
I pay tribute to this poet and gadfly, who left us yesterday at age 92, with an article from the archive
10 Brutally Honest Predictions on the Future of AI
Forget the hype—here’s what will really happen
The 3 Bad Types of Humanities Professor
And how to improve cultural education in the current moment
How Our Leisure Time Got Monetized
It wasn’t always like this
The Best Gospel Music Happening Right Now
You don’t need to join the congregation to enjoy these spirited tracks
Stanford's Secret Course on How to Rule the World
And its link to the scandal surrounding Bill Gates’s daughter