As the 120th birthday of Salvador Dalí approaches in May, the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, has introduced an innovative advertising campaign featuring an AI-generated version of the iconic Spanish surrealist's voice. This technological initiative allows visitors to engage in conversation with a digital version of Dalí himself.
The project was developed in collaboration with the San Francisco-based advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P). It utilizes a vast archive of Dalí’s writings and audio recordings from the museum, brought to life through two advanced machine learning models: OpenAI's GPT-4 and ElevenLabs' Eleven V2. This AI application is housed within an installation that invites visitors to interact with a replica of Dalí's famous 1938 sculpture, the Lobster Telephone. By asking questions, participants trigger a response from the AI, which uses Dalí’s digitally replicated voice to deliver answers mimicking his unique speech patterns and tones.
This interactive experience is the latest in a series of collaborations between the museum and GS&P. Previous projects include "Dalí Lives" in 2019 and "Dream Tapestry" in 2023, the latter allowing visitors to contribute dream narratives that were transformed into digital artworks. Hank Hine, the museum’s director, views this campaign as a fitting homage to Dalí, who passed away in 1989 and was renowned for embedding a sense of the uncanny in his work.
While other museums have explored the potential of AI to engage audiences with historical figures, such as the Musée D’Orsay's "Bonjour Vincent" project featuring a virtual Vincent Van Gogh, there are concerns about the commercialization of digital tools in cultural institutions. However, Martin Pagh Ludvigsen, creative technology director at GS&P, defended the project in an Inc. magazine interview, asserting that the technology serves as a valuable educational resource rather than a threat to the museum's integrity.
Jean Dubreil