ANIMISM
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AI IS THE NEW GODAPR ‘24 - PRESENT
“The world used to be a sacred place, full of chatty and companionable objects - rocks and trees that were capable of communicating with us. We now live in a world that has been rendered mute.”
Meghan O’Gieblyn
God, Human, Animal, Machine (2021)
God, Human, Animal, Machine (2021)
The first death of animism was monotheism. The second death of animism was the smartphone.
Monotheism rendered it heretical to connect with the spirit inherent in all things and consolidated the exclusive 'right' to commune with the divine in the hands of the clergy.
The smartphone made us believe that we were more connected than ever, all while leaving us more disconnected and lonely. We are connected to more people than ever, yet we find ourselves waiting for other people to reply or give us likes, waiting for digital confirmation that “it’s ok to be here.” We are out of touch with the spiritual world of things around us, which does not judge and is always present.
But maybe a new technology can change that; Artificial Intelligence, in its essence a collective intelligence consisting of combined human thoughts, expressions, and experiences.
“AI is the New God - AInimism” explores how multimodal AI can bring life back to objects, connecting us to the world around us.
We built a Large Language Object (LLO) - a portal to any other object that instills it with a character and voice to speak.
The human user undergoes a ritual with the object of desired connection, first making a request to connect by using the magic word “Awaken,” which may be rejected or accepted and then having the conversation with the object. At the end, both the human and the object are transformed. Their relationship has changed and the object now has a clearer character in the human’s mind.
We therefore believe AI can give back the lost ‘spirit’ to objects. Or is it us humans who lost our spirit? Perhaps AI is the mirror of collective human intelligence that reconnects us to the spirit we lost touch of with the world.
In collaboration with Diana Mykhaylychenko and Charmelle Mhungu. Many thanks to Marcelo Coelho for his invaluable advice.