Robot rock stars, pocket forests, and the battle for chips - Forum podcasts you should hear this month

"A hit record speaks to the souls of a million strangers."

Nile Rodgers should know. The funky guitarist and songwriter has made some of the best known pop music of the last half-century - and if you think you don't know his music, think again. He is the power behind countless disco and R&B megahits and some of the biggest tunes by David Bowie, Madonna, Pharrell Williams and Beyonce.

But what if an AI bot could produce music as good as humans can make? What if AI can write and star in movies? Is AI a threat to art itself, one of the things that makes us human? Or will it prove to be an invaluable tool that helps us express our humanity? All questions discussed by Nile Rodgers and other people in the creative arts on Radio Davos.

Other questions discussed on Forum podcasts in the last month include:

- What are 'pocket forests' and can they transform lives for city dwellers?

- What are 'middle powers' and can they help us end and prevent conflict?

- Why is there a global 'battle for chips?

When, as a young journeyman musician he complained to his jazz teacher about having to play what he considered "lame" pop songs of the day like Sugar, Sugar by cartoon band The Archies, his teacher told him not top be so sniffy

AI vs Art: Will AI rip the soul out of music, movies and art, or help express our humanity?

"He says, 'Nile, don't you realise that they're all hit records? Why would you call them lame?' Sugar Sugar has been number one for about six weeks now'. And I said, 'What has that got to do with it?'

He says, 'Sugar Sugar is a great composition'. I said, 'How can you call Honey do do do do do do. Oh, sugar, sugar. How could you call that a great composition?'

"Here's the greatest lesson in my life. He says, 'Because it speaks to the souls of a million strangers.' And I went, 'Oh my God. He just described an artist.'

"That's what my teacher taught me. A hit record speaks to the souls of a million strangers. That's what an artist does."

But what if AI is used to create music that can touch millions of people? Nile Rodgers is, perhaps surprisingly, open to using AI as a tool to create music, not least the ability to translate vocals into other languages.

"We translate operas into other languages when the producer finds it necessary ... So if you have a tool that can do it faster and more efficient, is that any less artistic than spending the time to learn that stuff and you just really reciting it by rote?"

In the same episode, the head of the Hollywood actors' union, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, explains how filmmakers are learning to live with AI, and visual artist Refik Anadol on how AI is a mirror on humanity.

Advanced Energy Solutions: scaling up the tech that can help us get to net zero

Why it's time for the 'middle powers' to step up on geopolitics

It's cheaper to save the world than destroy it: author Akshat Rathi on Climate Capitalism

'Pocket forests' - an idea pioneered in Japan - are where a diversity of tree species are planted on a very small parcel of land, usually in cities. On Meet the Leader, the founder and CEO of an organisation planting them around the world, Elise Van Middelem, explained their benefits

"Human health. You know, it's that nature deficit order. It's joy. It's cleaner air. It's cooler air, reduction of temperatures. But then it's also that whole biodiversity ecosystem level ... the biodiversity, the birdsong, through that creation of dense pocket forest, we have migratory birds that come back. It's the web of life, all that comes together."

The founder using 'pocket forests' to transform cities and protect biodiversity

"The pocket forest for us is that idea of, like, urban acupuncture. So today, our cities, nature is an integral part of it. It is not some sort of like oh yeah, add on. We all need that nature. And the services they provide, they can really be translated within these pocket forests, we can create urban acupuncture, meaning small spaces can immediately become wild, lush place of habitat. So for pollinators: a bee can travel 1.3 miles. So if you create all these kind of touch points within a city, you can actually, really help that biodiversity come back."

Workers have changed - How leaders must adapt: Randstad's Sander Van't Noordende

This pivot helped a mom-turned-founder scale student transit - and transform lives for moms and kids

The surprising lessons adventure taught this eco-entrepreneur about reflection and effective leadership

Chris Miller, author of the bestseller Chip War, was a guest on Radio Davos several months ago, talking about the huge economic and geopolitical significance of semiconductors.

He returns on this episode of Agenda Dialogues.

Davos 2024: The Battle for Chips

"What we learned during the pandemic was that it's not just smartphones that require chips. It's everything. It's cars, it's dishwashers, it's coffee makers. It's refrigerators.

"And I think that the auto industry is the best case study of this. There were car companies that had 999 of the chips they needed for their car. They didn't have the last one and they couldn't produce the cars as a result. And so the car industry alone lost half a trillion dollars worth of sales during the pandemic, despite the fact that during the pandemic the world produced more chips each year, we just had a deficit of certain types of chips."

Davos 2024: How to Trust Technology

Davos 2024: Treating Soil as a Precious Resource

Davos 2024: Facing a World without Antibiotics

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Radio Davos - subscribe: https://pod.link/1504682164

Meet the Leader - subscribe: https://pod.link/1534915560

Agenda Dialogues - subscribe: https://pod.link/1574956552

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