Conversation One: Interviews

Completed October 2022
Listen here: https://on.soundcloud.com/htTTU

Installation sketches

Project Description

My father died when he was forty-four and I was seventeen. He was a screenwriter who used a tape recorder to take notes about his work and life. A year ago I turned forty-four and wanted to talk to him again. I reached out to Resemble AI, a company that creates clones of voices using machine learning, to discuss the possibility of creating a deepfake of my father’s voice. Over the next several months, I found six hours of his recordings and worked with Resemble AI and my mother to think through the ethical and technological challenges of recreating my father’s voice. When the model of his voice was completed I was able to type and speak words into the interface and hear him speak. 

Conversations with My Deepfake Dad is a series of conversations created through my interactions with the audio deepfake of my father. Part of this project will be visiting Gestalt therapists, spiritualists, and others who can help me imagine what these conversations would have been. From the information I collect, I will write and record six different conversations with my dad: the first will be based on interviews with my family, the second will be based on letters and recordings from my father, the third will be based on empty chair therapy sessions, the fourth will be based on sessions with a medium, the fifth will be based on interactions with an AI model, and the sixth will be based on conversations with myself. In each conversation my father’s responses change based on the different sources of information–producing a kaleidoscope of different dads.