Embodied Voice and AI: a Techno-Social System in Miniature

This paper discusses a collaborative practice-based research project titled Embodied Voice and AI. The practice under investigation combines strategies from the fields of wearable design, human-computer interaction and contemporary performing arts with the purpose of developing a custom-made AI-based technology that augments an established method of psychophysical actor training. By both engaging in and studying this practice, our purpose is focusing on two strands of inquiry. The first strand, as described here, presents the technical and formal aspects of praxis in which our multi-disciplinary team engaged in the process of creating and experimenting with an AI-based technological artefact. This strand explored the role of embodiment in the context of AI-based technology design, as well as the potential use of AI-based technology in the context of augmenting a performative practice. The second strand involved video documentation of the studio-based practice of the first strand. This material was then annotated using a platform that supports collaborative reflection and exchange. This reflection not only helped to deepen understanding of what took place in strand one (the augmentation of the performative practice), but also showed how perceptions of the AI involved might overlap with current debates and discussions about AI and Ethics, thus revealing a techno-social system in miniature and the potential that further micro-studies of this kind might offer something unique to debates about technology and ethics particularly in areas of body datafication.