Rhizome's annual 7x7 conference at The New Museum pairs artists with tech luminaries for deep conversation and day-long collaboration. Each pair is given a simple assignment: make something new. In 2024, Ben assisted Reggie Watts and theoretical physicist Dr. Stephon Alexander on building and AI device for live musical improvisation. Alexander began with a talk on the connections between quantum physics and AI: how the shapes of galaxies within the macrostructure of the universe resemble neurons, and how Leon Cooper – recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 and Alexander’s mentor at Brown University – introduced an equation from quantum mechanics to AI research that became the basis for the design of neural networks. For the performance, Shirken developed a real-time AI interface that utilized timbre transfer, realtime audio auto-encoding, corpus classification, and machine learning effects. Using a voice model trained on audiobooks recently released by Watts and Alexander, the pedal produced saturated tones augmented by phrases spoken in the two men’s voices – a richly layered effect that would not be possible without AI. Softwares used included Google DDSP, IRCAM RAVE, SP-Tools, and Max MSP.
