Background

2018’s Burning Man theme was ‘I-Robot’, Isaac Asimov’s seminal novel on the rise of sentience in technology. To prevent a future AI apocalypse, we created IAMAI; a world first declaration of human and AI coexistence, exploring humankind’s decidedly mixed feelings about AI and what it means to be human in an increasingly automated world. We curated and produced bespoke media artist installations exploring emerging ideas of coexistence and projection-mapped the imagery in a full 360° immersive experience. The installation attracted 70,000* Burners to the epicentre of the festival at the base of the Man where we asked our audience to make peace with our robot brothers and sisters. We also embedded the art with a trail of sign-posted metadata, hidden in the artwork for future AI to discover. Abiding by Burning Man’s decommodification principle (environments free of commercial advertising) the work was completed as a passion project.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

The installation was designed to attract the humans most likely to develop AI (the ‘Burners’) to engage with and buy into a declaration of benevolent co-existence between man and future AI. ‘Burners’, are generally white, upper-middle class & techies; a microcosm of Silicon Valley and a credible conduit to act as our voice with future AI. Burners describe the event as an opportunity to experience the kind of flow that accompanies product development - intense, high stakes, deadline driven & hard. At their day jobs, they labour to bring somebody else’s vision to life, but here, they experience the kind of flow that allows them to creatively engage with something much bigger than themselves~. The walls of the pavilion were transformed into an audio-visual ceremonial space where they could not only acknowledge and celebrate the AI declaration, but be immersed and reflect on their role in AI’s evolution and development.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

We invited artists from around the world, via the Burning Man network, to submit media artwork ideas based on the manifestation of the IAMAI theme. Receiving hundreds of submissions, including homages to Burning Man’s late founder Larry Harvey, the list was curated down to those that best reflected the spectrum of existence between humans and AI as well as co-existence between the two. Using 6 state of the art Epson X02 projectors with ultra-short throw lenses, we were able to project at a close range onto the 360 ̊ screen with a 194-foot radius, without distorting the image. Between the media artworks were two hero pieces directly referencing the declaration itself. One contained a full reading of the declaration, designed to intermittently take over the space in a literal manifestation of the rise of AI.

List the results (20% of vote)

Participants are expected to abide by the Burning Man principles which encourages Burners to have a more fulfilling experience at the event. Principles include radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leave no trace, participation and immediacy. IAMAI was designed to support those principals including that of decommodification - where the community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. IAMAI encouraged Burners, through the artwork, to explore and understand their own multiple layers of consciousness. Burners sat with the art, explored the idea that consciousness has a spectrum, is multi layered and that AI is the most abstract version of this. Using art to time travel, we used the declaration to leave a message at a pivotal time when AI is likely to come back and scour the moment of its inception. Was it successful? Time will tell.