ARTICLE: A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG ASSEMBLER

What does Felix Klee mean that the screenplay of My paws are soft, my bones are heavy was “written by an artificial intelligence language model”? A few notes about GPT-2 and their implications for machinima.

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Klee used a Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2 (GPT-2) to generate the screenplay of his machinima. (GPT-2) is an open-source artificial intelligence created by OpenAI in February 2019 which can translate text, answer questions, summarize passages, and generate text output on a level that can be almost indistinguishable from human-generated content when used for short texts. One of the most popular applications based on this technology is, incidentally, a video game: AI Dungeon (2019) which used GPT-2 to generate dynamic text adventures based on user input. The screenplay of My paws are soft, my bones are heavy reads as follows:

My paws are soft.

My bones are heavy.

I can smell the sea.

I have an itch.

I can hear the wind.

I’m going to be here for a long time.

So let me take a nap.

My dreams have been full of death.

I’ve seen animals die and be reborn, but

never have I seen a human do the same.

So let me go into the ocean and drown.

It’s cold now.

I wonder if I’ll ever see land again.

The sea is my only home.

My one place where I can feel

myself, my body feels heavy.

My clothes are brutal.

My ears are tired.

I can hear my own heartbeat.

My tail is limp.

I can feel my own blood in my head.

I’m not human.

I'm not a beast.

I’m just another one of my kind.

And so I’ll stay here for as long as

it takes to get through the darkness

until the end of the world of the

world that I know I want to sleep.

I want to sleep.

[continues]

Emissary Forks At Perfection (live simulation, 2015-2016) Created by Ian Cheng, Producer Veronica So, Technical Director Samuel Eng, Modeling & Rigging Joshua Planz, Modeling Breht O'Hearn + Aaron Bohenick, Sound Design Greg Heffernan, Animation Chad Waldschmidt, Graphics Programmer Chris Clapis, Content Designer Jessica Wilson, Technical Artists Yang Wang + Zhenzhen Qi, Story Consultant Sean Manning + Alexander Benaim, Published by Metis Suns.

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EVENT: VRAL #29_THE COOL COUPLE (SEPTEMBER 3-16 2021)

FLYIN’ HIGH

digital video (3840 × 2160), color, sound, 59’ 21”, 2021 (Italy)

Created by The Cool Couple

September 3 - 16 2021

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

What is the relationship between aviation and computation, technology and the environment? Experience the inner contradictions of the modern age – in which your favorite technological marvel is an agent of environmental destruction – through a simulated flight in the virtual skies. Hosted on Microsoft’s Azure “cloud” infrastructure, this journey illustrates the true consequences of unbridled technological “progress”.

The Cool Couple – often shortened TCC – is an artist duo based in Milan, Italy, established in 2012 by Niccolò Benetton (1986) and Simone Santilli (1987). Their multidisciplinary practice investigates the friction points generated daily by the interaction between people and images. The Cool Couple combines artistic research with teaching: they are lecturers at NABA in Milan and Course Leaders of the BA in Visual Arts at MADE Program.

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