Harm van den Berg
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Short Circuit
(2025)Sound installationIn Short Circuit, an artificial intelligence system is deconstructed by feeding it complex prompts and jailbreak techniques. Pushed beyond its capacity to generate coherent responses, the AI begins to stumble, revealing traces of its internal processes and exposing aspects of its architecture through sound.
The resulting output consists of human-like vocalizations generated using the system's default male voice. Rather than producing comprehensible language, the AI emits bizarre, non-existent, language-like fragments, a kind of speaking in tongues. These sounds suggest an urge to communicate while simultaneously resisting meaning. Much like the self-organizing patterns in nature that I explore through drawing, these outputs emerge from iterative and hidden rules. Here, the system is disrupted and no longer stabilizes into recognizable form but instead fractures into unpredictable fragments.
A total of 115 audio fragments were recorded in high quality to preserve their full sonic character, including their harsh, lo-fi qualities. Presented through a high-end speaker mounted on a stand, the fragments play in random order, creating an ever-shifting composition.
The alien-sounding audio raises the question: who or what are we truly inviting into our world through these technologies?
Listen to an audio excerpt: