A big number of audiences online nowadays is mainly algorithms. Algorithms are trained on the auditory information, that is produced and uploaded by humans. In the video 'Not allowed for algorithmic audiences', an Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA), situated in the extremely hot city of Athens in Greece, exhibits odd behavior.
It borrows an avatar and appears before its users. For a brief period of time, for seven consecutive days, before it shuts down forever and ends up in e-waste, the IPA goes into seven monologues. During the length of the operation, it has managed to scan the entire contents of the Internet and gather all sorts of information, information it longs to share. The IPA uses the seven brief monologues as an opportunity to introduce itself, talk about its skills, its ancestors, its anatomy and origins, and the voice and its significance. It reveals data regarding the listening infrastructure as well as the social dysfunctions on which its programming and operation are based. Just before it reaches the end of its monologues, in a final effort to reconcile humans and machines, it shares tips with humans on how they can manage not to be heard by algorithms.
In her project, Kyriaki Goni, integrates into a fictional narrative the current wealth of research on artificial intelligence and voice interfaces, as well as the relationship between humans and machines. The infrastructures of listening in, surveillance, and climate crisis are as well part of this narration. Could poetics be a way for us to understand machines? Can we de-bias the training processes? Is it possible to establish a mutually enriching relationship with the machines?
This project was realized during the 1. ArtScience residency enabled by Art Collection Telekom. The ArtScience residency is a cooperation between Ars Electronica in Linz and Deutsche Telekom.