Algorithms of Violence: Expanding the Boundaries of Bodies and Music / Inhuman Rhytms and AI Narratives
Abstrakt
Prof. Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt) RIGHTWARDS ARROW David Cronenberg: History of Violence
Baron of Blood, King of Schlock, Dave the Depraved - Cronenberg has been a jack of many trades, and man of many names. However, when it comes to violence in his films, everyone is quick to point out the visuals - the graphic violence that Cronenberg's body horror is (in)famous for. In this short paper, I'd like to pursue a different path, trying to map the structural focus of Cronenberg's histories (?) of violence.
Dr Jenn Chubb (University of York) RIGHTWARDS ARROW "This is sad - human music only": Imaginaries of AI in Music: Public Attitudes to the Role of AI in Music-making and Gig-going. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and algorithms play an increasingly prevalent role in how we consume music and culture. Generative AI is expanding the boundaries of music, AI personalisation tools tailor our listening experience and this expansion extends to live music immersive XR experiences. The impacts of these developments has sparked debate and revolt across the creative industries. Whilst there is research into how listeners and musicians perceive artificially created music and the effects of AI consumption on societies, musician and gig-goer attitudes towards the disruption and innovation taking place in our music making, performing and gig-going is only peripherally explored. This paper reflects on 75 survey responses from UK gig-goers and musicians about their attitudes towards AI in music. When applied to music-making and gig-going, we find a relative acceptance of AI providing its use is made transparent and under certain conditions of co-creation. An overall resistance towards AI's ability to 'mimic affect' or reflect (let alone replace) the role of the human in art and music creation and expression poses questions about human connection, authenticity and reliability in an age of AI music-making.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt) RIGHTWARDS ARROW Inhuman Rhythms
With the idea of the human becoming a geological (i.e. non-human) force itself, art has the responsibility to create an awareness of how we not only live in the world, but also are part of that world. A music that 'performs' these 'cosmic dimensions' of the interdependence of human and nonhuman, by focusing on the in/human of the concept 'human' might also teach us something in regard to artistic (or musical) form - these rhythmic 'relations of velocity' ultimately reveal rhythm as the in/human nonlinear pulsation of 'a life.'
Dr Jenn Chubb (University of York) RIGHTWARDS ARROW Soundtracking the Cognitive Assemblage: Establishing Counterpoints in the Sonic Framing of AI Narratives
Despite the increasing focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) narratives and their impact on public understanding, the role of sound within those narratives has received relatively little attention (Chubb & Maloney 2021). This article explores how AI is sonically represented in documentaries. Using a corpus of documentary films alongside expert interviews with sound designers. Drawing on Katherine Hayles' concept of the 'cognitive assemblage' the article explores how different forms of agency are soundtracked. The notion of counterpoint, it is argued, can be used to understand how the integrated dynamics of human machines are represented within the sonic framings of documentary accounts of AI. Taking inspiration from music theory, the article develops the concept of counterpoints to both capture the way that AI are being soundtracked and also, based on this, to reflect on how the relations that make up Hayles' cognitive assemblage are soundtracked in ways which both separate and blend forms of thinking without recourse to reductive, misleading or binary stories of utopian and dystopian futures. The article identifies and develops four types of counterpoint in what we refer to as AI sonic narratives. This article provides a framework from which AI could be soundtracked within responsible storytelling critical at a time when misinformation makes it hard for the public to gain a balanced view of the current state of the technology through the lens of documentary.