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Have you ever wanted to ask a famous artist a question? How about one who died 35 years ago? At the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, fans of the surrealist artist can do just that through a generative AI platform called Ask Dali. Here's NPR's Chloe Veltman.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: The question - why are the clocks in your paintings melting? - provokes a long, poetical response from Ask Dali. Here's a snippet.
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AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Salvador Dali) My dear questioner, think not of the clocks as merely melting. Picture them as a vast dream caressing consciousness.
VELTMAN: Museum visitors just pick up the lobster-shaped receiver on a replica of Dali's famous telephone sculpture to speak with him. The museum says the artificial intelligence Dali has responded to well over 30,000 questions since the installation launched in mid-April. People ask about things like the artist's famous curling moustache...
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AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Salvador Dali) It is not merely facial hair, but a symbol - a whimsical whisker bridge to pass artistic geniuses.
VELTMAN: ...And the week's winning lottery numbers.
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AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Salvador Dali) To seek the lottery numbers from the mind of Dali is to ask a cloud to rain gold. Let us instead divine the mysteries of the universe through art and imagination.
VELTMAN: Ask Dali was trained on voice samples taken from archival interviews Dali did in English over his career - also, translations of his many writings, including "Diary Of A Genius" and "The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali." Martin Pagh Ludvigsen was part of the team that created the installation.
MARTIN PAGH LUDVIGSEN: One of the most wonderful things about this experience is that Dali will never give the exact same answer to a question, even if it's phrased exactly the same as before.
VELTMAN: He says that's because of the way the technology works.
PAGH LUDVIGSEN: But we like to think it's because of his spirit and temperament.
VELTMAN: But what would Salvador Dali have thought of his AI self? Here's Dali scholar Elliott King.
ELLIOTT KING: He was so interested in scientific advancements. And I think that he would have really enjoyed the fact that people were talking into this lobster phone.
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AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Salvador Dali) Hi. I am Salvador Dali, and you can ask me anything.
VELTMAN: Dali spoke English, along with Catalan, Spanish and French. But King says no way would the real Dali have introduced himself to people like the AI Dali does to museum-goers.
KING: That word, hi, sounds so odd coming out of his voice. He always said bonjour.
VELTMAN: King says Dali also said bonjour when saying goodbye.
Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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