This conference, titled "175Hz: What Desires Shape Artificial Neutrality?" explores the influence of human desires on the concept of neutrality in artificial intelligence. It examines three facets of neutrality in AI voices: emotional neutrality (tone and expression), discourse neutrality (language and vocabulary), and gender neutrality. Through the lens of these themes, it illustrates how gender and bias manifest in AI's responses, often shaped by the predominantly male-dominated tech industry. For example, voice assistants often default to female voices, perpetuating stereotypes of women as assistants. We are discussing cultural and societal influences on how technology is developed and perceived, noting that companies profit from user desires shaped by sci-fi fantasies of emotionally aware AI.

The conference sets on the floor and unfolds though a voice transformer and loops samples. The exploration keeps going by contrasting the supposed "neutral" qualities of AI voices with their real-world applications, highlighting historical milestones like the vocoder and examples from science fiction. These illustrate how synthetic voices can evoke emotional responses, influence perceptions of gender, and reflect societal biases. The conference also delves into the idea of "genderless" voices, like the "Q" project, designed to exist within a middle frequency range between traditional male and female voice tones.

Created for Trans- @ System D, Malakoff, in 2024

Also performed at Gofildren, 2024