Short abstract:

The investigation of neoliberal aesthetics of mimicry and neutralisation perpetuated by “digital human”, “character creator” apps (Uneeq, Deepbrain AI Human), avatar generators and virtual presenter apps with a specific focus on the questions of affective labour, attention economy and AI figuration.

Long abstract:

Human interaction with the algorithms primarily takes place in the realm of aesthetics and affect, where they are inevitably figured and imagined in different ways, from the elements of the interface to anthropomorphic entities that we perceive as autonomously operating: chatbots, AI companions and other Alexas, Replicas and Tays. Their active participation in culture and economy through appearance of agency is undisputable: virtual influencers increase profits and other AI characters become lightning rods for corporate responsibility (such as Tay (Anikina 2020)), promising a future increase in diverse types of parasocial (Elvery 2022) relationships with AI-powered figurations.

Building on my work on ‘procedural animism’ (Anikina 2022) exploring the significance of AI figures through the lens of decolonial and feminist STS, in this paper I want to pursue the question of how “digital human” and “character creator” apps, AI avatar generators and virtual presenter apps perpetuate neoliberal aesthetics of mimicry and neutralisation. I aim to question a particular kind of hollowing out of representation and its capture by affective infrastructures of corporate websites, professional social media networks and advertising avenues. I will consider a series of case studies of aesthetic homogenization or neutralisation (favoring “universally” appealing characteristics over nuanced representation) and mimicry (conforming to the ideas of “professional” or “trustworthy”) in the larger sociocultural contexts of generative AI.

The proposal is connected to a body of artistic audiovisual work; related project is ‘The Chronicles of Xenosocialist AI’ https://www.are.na/medialab-matadero/pro-03-the-chronicles-of-xenosocialist-ai.