A little-known fact about the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument, the first sampling synthesiser, introduced in 1979, is that it incorporated a psychotherapist called Liza. Stressed musicians could key in an emotional problem and Liza would begin the session with the soothing opening: ‘What is it that troubles you about x?’ She was flummoxed by a frivolous question from my husband, an early Fairlight owner, about a hole in her bucket but dealt expeditiously with my nine-year-old stepson. When he told her to get lost, she shut the system down.
The closing installation is a dismal graveyard of discarded Alexas still winking pink, blue and green
The ghost in Fast Familiar’s machine at the Science Gallery’s AI exhibition is an advanced version of Liza, and the roles are reversed. ‘You might be used to robots helping you,’ it advises visitors. ‘But this is about YOU helping ME.’ As a human (you have to pass a traffic-light test to qualify) your role is to help its artificial intelligence look for love by teaching it the basics of romance.
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