Roberto Fassone feeds AI hallucinogenic mushrooms for art project in Turin

Roberto Fassone, an Italian artist born in 1986 in Savigliano, has unveiled 'And we thought | Food Data Digestion', a multimedia project crafted as part of the Cantieri 2022 initiative by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, in partnership with Earthink festival, Casa Fools, and Play with Food festival. The work was presented on June 17 at Combo in Turin, featuring a discussion led by Valentina Tanni. It involved training an AI language model, Ai Lai, using thousands of psychedelic trip reports to create narratives that mimic an AI's hallucinatory experiences. Collaborating with Federico Bomba and linguist Andrea Zaninello from Sineglossa, the exhibition, running until July 21, showcases a book, video collages, posters, and an album by fictional artist Killa. The project will also be featured at Ars Electronica in Linz from September 7–11. Critic Valerio Veneruso has expressed concerns regarding the project's authenticity, noting that Fassone has not personally experienced hallucinogenic mushrooms.