What is Artificial Life Coach?
We empower the public with critical thinking skills about AI, enabling them to actively shape a future that best serves their interests and well-being.
Artificial Life Coach uses satirical performance art on social media to deflate AI hype and challenge dominant narratives. By parodying the way both trendy “secular gurus” and tech companies peddle reductive solutions to complex problems, we expose the limitations of AI tools and examine how the AI industry is linked to broader issues of power, inequality, and injustice.
Our website serves as a vibrant hub for alternative, justice-oriented perspectives on AI, amplifying the work of artists, activists, people of color, and other underrepresented voices. Artificial Life Coach seeds our audience with new ideas and helps promote alternative more equitable future imaginaries.
…we expose the limitations of AI tools and examine how the AI industry is linked to broader issues of power, inequality, and injustice.
What is AI hype?
“AI” is not just a neutral term for a type of technology; it’s also a marketing buzzword that can obscure the limitations and potential harms of the AI industry. Many of our beliefs about AI are based on faith and clever marketing invoking science fiction rather than reality. Some companies treat AI like a crystal ball, using it to make decisions and predictions even when evidence shows it often fails, harming vulnerable people the most. Just as magicians like Harry Houdini exposed the parlor tricks behind psychic claims in the early 20th century, we must pull back the curtain on AI.
Behind the smoke and mirrors of AI industry magic, we find large numbers of humans bearing the brunt of choices made by a few companies. From biased algorithms that discriminate to low-wage workers laboring to create the illusion of intelligent machines surpassing their current capacities, the human costs that fall upon more vulnerable populations are often hidden from view. The pressure to keep up with AI innovation incentivizes data collection at an unprecedented scale. Data centers come with high environmental costs, and the surveillance and harms from AI supply chains will be hard to undo.
The consequences of where we place our attention are far-reaching and urgent. Hype directs attention away from the concentration of power by a handful of tech giants who wield AI for profit and control. This hype makes it harder for policymakers and the public to critically examine AI technologies and their political economy.
Behind the smoke and mirrors of AI industry magic, we find large numbers of humans bearing the brunt of choices made by a few companies.
Why does it matter?
Research shows AI tools amplify surveillance, oppression, inequality, and exploitation. By making society more “legible,” algorithmic systems concentrate power and wealth at the top. The public needs to understand the high stakes and valid concerns surrounding AI. Changing beliefs and encouraging skepticism is vital to empowering vulnerable communities.
Changing beliefs and encouraging skepticism is vital to empowering vulnerable communities.
Why an Artificial Life Coach?
Our previous art research project, Fluxus Landscape: An expansive view of AI Ethics and Governance, we mapped over 500 stakeholders. We found the biggest gap in this field to be public outreach. Five years later, nuanced, critical perspectives struggle to compete with the quick, easy narratives of AI marketing.
Artificial Life Coach aims to shift the tide by getting there first with engaging, thought-provoking content. Humor and satire are powerful tools for challenging beliefs and spreading critical thinking. For members of our audience who want to dive deeper into the realities of AI, our website contains our curated collection of engaging, thought-provoking resources that go beyond the corporate narrative and mainstream discourse.
Get involved
We need your help to sustain and expand our critical intervention in AI narratives. Here are some ways to get involved:
Vibes
Browse our carefully curated “Vibes” list to discover more, support the work of others, and take action.
Power Outlet
Find ways to get involved by joining the Power Outlet — ACDC (Artificial Coach Deprogramming Club).
Contact
Help fund our mission by donating or becoming a partner — contact us to learn more.
Credits
Artist
Şerife (Sherry) Wong
Website & Creative Direction
Kristen Sunde
Research Assistant
Hannah Cornejo
Logo FX
Mercedes Paulino
Intern
Ultraviolet Schneider Dwyer
Editor
Don Theo 3
Looking for a Real Life Coach? Elan Price
Additional Collaborators and Special Advisors
Advisors
Jess Stockton
Drag-on King
Stef Gesiorski
Lauren Patti
Accessibility Advisor
Alise Crossland
Feedback
Trinidad Theakson
Sidney McAuliffe
Raziye Buse Çetin
Celeste Kidd
Set and Accessories
Wild Feather & Tamo Design
John Foster via Liz Ancker
Everyone in our focus and conversation groups!
With Support From
Mozilla Foundation Creative Award
With special thanks to Kofi Yeboah and Brett Gaylor
With Thanks
Artificial Life Coach is dedicated to the memory of my friend Charlie Finch in gratitude for the kindness and mentorship he showed me early in my career.