The Claypool Lennon Delirium's cosmic new album is not just an AI warning, but a reflection on a global loss of empathy

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In a world where artificial intelligence is rapidly shifting from science fiction to science fact, a new concept album called "The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy" by The Claypool Lennon Delirium leans into a classic philosophical thought experiment in order to imagine what we might lose if we fully embrace AI.

Drawing inspiration from the widely discussed "Paperclip Maximizer" thought experiment, introduced by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003, the record imagines an apocalyptic scenario in which an advanced AI — tasked only with making paperclips — relentlessly converts everything in existence into them, and eventually the entire universe. The record's co-creator Sean Ono Lennon described it as "a cautionary tale...we just thought was funny."

This isn't the first sci-fi go around for the band, co-founded by Les Claypool and Lennon. They've previously written about the infamous "Monolith of Phobos" that NASA moonwalker Buzz Aldrin popularized and a song inspired by Jet Propulsion Laboratory co-founder Jack Parsons on the album "South of Reality."

From world wide web oddities to a cosmic rock opera

In an exclusive video interview with Space.com, Claypool and Lennon talked about how they drew inspiration from "weird … interesting science stuff" they found on the internet.

Claypool described how Lennon would "poindexter out" with his son Cage on topics like artificial intelligence and they turned that into the narrative for the record.

The paperclip dilemma replaced an earlier concept about cephalopods, according to Claypool. The result is an epic rock opera complete with a suite of characters and an epic story that has also been turned into an album-accompanying comic created by Rich Ragsdale.

Empathy vs. AI

Although the album has been framed as a warning about AI, Claypool offers a different perspective. "To me, that's just the subtext," he said. "It's more a commentary on the loss of empathy that we're experiencing on a worldwide level."

Lennon added that "empathy is what makes us human or love is what makes us human."  — "or civil with each other," says Claypool.

The message is less about robots taking over and more about what humanity risks losing on its own through allowing AI to have so much influence on our lives. The lyrics from the song "Golden Egg of Empathy" are a poignant example of their feelings on the subject: All this technology you hold in your hand/ Is insignificant devoid of love/ Is this foolish folly or your destiny/ As you search for the golden egg of empathy

Artists, AI and the tools of creation

Visual artist Ashley Zelinskie, known for her out-of-this-world artwork inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope, also joined the conversation to deliver a perspective on human creativity versus machine intelligence.

"I see it like a paintbrush," she explained, noting her early adoption of 3D printing and machine learning in her artwork. To Zelinskie, "code is just a chisel."

She also emphasized the importance of artists and musicians being in the conversation as technology evolves.

"If we leave it to tech people, business people and politicians the lyrics in 'Troll Bait' will actually come true." "Troll Bait" is the fifth track on the new record that features these lyrics: This may come as a surprise/ Industry's a rolling dice/ Have you come to realize/ Progress comes with a price.

Will the machines become aware?

Lennon is "very interested in the idea of whether or not a computer can become conscious," but he's skeptical.

"Thinking and awareness are different," he said, pushing back on the assumption that AI will eventually obtain consciousness.

He points to biology as an important distinction. "You could even argue that an amoeba is aware in some sense, and on some level, it's experiencing its environment" Lennon says, suggesting that consciousness may be tied to living systems.

That puts him at odds with a narrative in the tech community that the machines could eventually reach awareness. It's "an assumption" and "not based on any data," says Lennon.

Star stuff vs. silicon

The lyrics to the last song on the album sparked a broader conversation about AI's impact on the universe:

Should we close it all down?/ Is it over now?/ Was it all a waste of time?/ Should we call it a wrap?

Lennon reflected on the philosophical side, saying, "there are models of the universe where consciousness is required for anything to exist at all, so we don't even really know."

Claypool took a more practical angle, raising concerns about the "state of artistic output" and the growing loss of revenue for musicians and artists. Still, he remains optimistic that "the market value for human stuff might actually go up" as interest in handmade and human-created work increases. The group shared that sentiment.

Zelinskie's answer to the question of AI's universal impact is that "in a world of AI, conceptual art is the only art left" and "the pure human idea is all we have."

She went on to invoke legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, adding that "we are made of star stuff, we are the universe looking back at itself and you can't replicate that."

The Claypool Lennon Delirium's new record is out now and to learn more about Ashley Zelinskie's artwork, visit her website.

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Steve Spaleta is Space.com's Senior Producer. Since 2007, Steve has produced and edited space, science and entertainment-related videos for Space.com. He is also the producer/writer/editor of Space.com's CosMix series on space-enthused artists. He studied psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is originally from Zadar, Croatia by way of Astoria, NY. To see Steve's latest project, follow him on Twitter and follow Space.com's VideoFromSpace YouTube Channel.