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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Unfinished by by Lucas Cantor Santiago, read by Christopher Ragland.

For most of his career, the Emmy Award–winning composer and producer Lucas Cantor Santiago was a self-described luddite. Technology, he felt, was moving too fast, transforming the world and the arts with no regard for the cost in tradition, hard-won human wisdom, and tried-and-true methods of mastery.

That changed, however, when Cantor Santiago was commissioned by Huawei, one of the largest technology companies on the planet, to collaborate with artificial intelligence and finish Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony—a successful experiment that attracted attention throughout the world. Creating music in collaboration with a machine led him to question his long-standing assumptions about what music is, what technology does, and how the two have evolved together over the course of human history, from the first bone flute to today’s landscape of constant innovation and change.

Drawing on Cantor Santiago’s extensive experience in the arts and tech worlds and his ongoing experiments with AI-powered music making, Unfinished is an engaging and refreshingly optimistic meditation on the role of technology in music and the arts. What is the current state of the art? How did we get here? Where do we go now? This book provides an informed perspective on what is lost but what we also gain when we bring our machines ever further into the creation of art in its many different forms.

Critics Review

Only time will tell whether AI, this latest in civilizational toys, will turn out to be more Gutenberg press or atomic weapon, but one thing is for sure: we will rely on voices of reason to shepherd us through the fog and signpost the journey. Using our world of film music as a backdrop, Lucas Cantor Santiago wrestles with some of the most pressing questions of our time. Lucas has carved a unique career for himself, operating at the frontier where technology and music meet, and has brought us a bounty of expertise and playful insight that makes for a fascinating read.
Alan Menken, EGOT winner and composer for films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin
In a remarkable mix of autobiography, philosophy, and technical detail, industry insider Lucas Cantor Santiago’s Unfinished weaves a spellbinding account of what happened—and will happen—to the business of both capturing and creating music over the next sixty years.
George Dyson, author of Turing’s Cathedral
If you’re worried about what AI means for human creativity, read this book. It will make you feel better. Lucas Cantor Santiago has spent decades using technology to make art. In Unfinished, he shows us that music and technology have always evolved together, and he explains how that evolution will continue in the age of AI.
Jacob Goldstein, host of the podcast Business History and author of Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
In Unfinished, Lucas Cantor Santiago reminds us that artificial intelligence is a tool, not a rival, empowering artists to push the boundaries of creativity while staying true to the human spirit. The future of art isn’t about replacement; it’s about reinvention.
Manny Maroquin, music entrepreneur and eighteen-time Grammy Award–winning mixer for Post Malone, Rihanna, and Kendrick Lamar
Lucas is thinking about AI and music the way we all we should: with a mix of excitement, curiosity, and caution. In this super-engaging (and even funny!) read, I learned more about music, AI, and how an artist can harness AI for good.
Drew Thurlow, author of Machine Music: How AI is Transforming Music’s Next Act and former Senior VP of A&R, Sony Music
The world is full of theories about human-AI partnerships. Here you have a book—charming, surprising, illuminating—that goes beyond the certainties of theory to find the possibilities of practice
Angus Fletcher, author of Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know
Lucas Cantor Santiago has written a book about AI and music that is both timely and reassuring. He reminds us that new technology, from the primitive bone flute to Hans Zimmer’s powerful computer rigs, has always enabled humans to create new sounds and invent fresh musical languages. This is an accessible and entertaining book fizzing with ideas and insights that should be read by musicians, music fans, and policymakers who want to understand the implications of AI for the future soundtrack of humankind.
Lord Brennan Of Canton
The AI discourse is full of people who will explain it all to you without knowing the first thing about it. That's why Lucas Cantor Santiago's Unfinished is so necessary. Having used AI to finish Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, Cantor has learned about AI by doing, and his book reveals the strengths and the limits of the new technology more thoroughly than a dozen empty prophets.
Steven Marche, author of Death of an Author, the first AI-generated novel reviewed by The New York Times
As a researcher on the front lines of creative AI, this is the book I’ve been waiting for. Lucas Cantor Santiago's raw, honest journey shows how working alongside this technology allows us to find new sounds and make new meaning. Unfinished proves the ghost in the machine isn't something to fear, but a new kind of collaborator that amplifies our own creativity.
Kory Mathewson, artist and research scientist at Google DeepMind
This book is a major history and sociology lesson that I found fascinating and totally understandable. Thoroughly well-researched, it explains AI in a way that is completely new. Incredible in every respect.
M.B. Gordy, two-time Grammy-winning drummer, percussionist, and composer
An incredibly insightful and entertaining journey through the complex relationship between nascent AI technologies and contemporary music creation. The currently ubiquitous questions and concerns surrounding the future of human musicmaking in the age of AI are addressed and examined in virtuoso fashion through a whirlwind exploration of the age-old relationship between music and technology across millennia—with results that are both surprising and inspiring.
Kubilay Uner, composer and director, Music Composition for the Screen MFA, Columbia College Chicago
Lucas Cantor Santiago brings a compelling and insightful perspective on the evolving relationship between music and technology, showing how they’ve been inextricably linked from humanity's earliest instruments to the sophisticated AI of today. It's a rich exploration of how we imbue sound with meaning and the ways that music might evolve in the near future. An important read for navigating the future of art.
Mark Henry Phillips, reporter (Radiolab, All Things Considered) and composer (Serial, Homecoming)
One of the eminent geniuses of our time explains it all for you, in a language all can understand.
Lenny Beer, Editor in Chief, HITS Magazine
Unfinished inspires us to consider the deeply human experience of mastering our creative tools to tell the stories of humanity. Each act of creativity, whether made collaboratively with technology or despite it, contributes to our ongoing symphony of artistic endeavor—a piece that is, and always will be, unfinished.
Michael Strickland, Specialized Faculty in Music Technology, Florida State University
Unfinished cuts through both the hype and the hysteria to show us that music has always been a technological art form, and that technology amplifies rather than replaces the fundamentally human acts of creating meaning and moving an audience. This is essential reading for anyone trying to understand where music, tech, and AI actually meet—and why, at the end of the day, human musicians remain vital to our future.
Cherie Hu, Founder, Water & Music
An important and timely read for anyone curious about how our tools, from flutes to computers, have shaped what we call music. Exploring the complexities of human consciousness and creative expression, Lucas Cantor Santiago invites us to imagine AI not as a replacement for human creativity and skill, but as a tool that can help push us forward, expanding the future of composition.
Michele Darling, Chair of Electronic Production and Design, Berklee College of Music
When reading Unfinished, one can start see a new conversation that is growing about the art of making music in the modern world. Lucas Cantor Santiago weaves a story of personal and technological epiphanies that will give some insight for all of us that are wondering what’s next and what the future will hold.
Dom Flemons, “The American Songster,” singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy Award winner
Composer Cantor Santiago debuts with a robust, upbeat meditation on how artificial intelligence is shaping music production ... Musicians will especially appreciate this enlightening and optimistic take on music's future.
Publishers Weekly

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