ABBA co-founder and CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus opens CISAC's centenary General Assembly with keynote speech about AI, creativity and the future of human expression

Paris, France - 5 June 2026 - The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) opened its 2026 General Assembly in Paris yesterday with a keynote address from CISAC President and ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus which explored the unique value of creativity, the threat of artificial intelligence and the future of human authorship.

Watch Björn Ulvaeus' full opening speech here:

Ulvaeus argued that while AI tools have the capacity to imitate human expression, the value of human creativity is fundamentally tied to lived experience, something technology is unable to reproduce.

Highlighting the legal and policy debates surrounding AI training practices, transparency and copyright protection, Ulvaeus referenced the UK government's decision to abandon proposed AI copyright opt-out measures following strong opposition from the creative industries, as well as generative AI companies Suno and Udio's ongoing landmark court cases focused on the unauthorised use of copyrighted music to train their systems.

Closing the address, Ulvaeus reflected on CISAC's role over the past century in defending creators and ensuring that human authorship continues to be recognised and valued for the years ahead.

"People like us in this room have spent a century insisting - in legal and practical terms - that the person behind the work is real, identifiable, and owed something," he said.

Other speakers throughout the 2026 CISAC General Assembly included creators and cultural leaders from across music, audiovisual, visual arts and publishing, alongside representatives from WIPO, the African Union, the European Parliament, Deezer and leading international cultural institutions.

The day notably concluded with the unveiling of The Paris Commitment - a CISAC declaration setting out a series of principles urging governments, technology companies and cultural industries to ensure human creators remain protected, recognised and fairly remunerated in the AI era.

The commitment was endorsed onstage by a group of creators including ABBA co-founder and CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus, Electronic pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, British Painter Adelaide Damoah, Singer, Songwriter and UK Lord Kevin Brennan, French Visual Artist Rebecca Digne, among others.

Creators, rights organisations and supporters around the world are now invited to add their names to the Paris Commitment through a public signing campaign: cisac.org/pariscommitment.

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