Roberto Fassone's AI hallucinates Led Zeppelin films in Bologna show

Roberto Fassone (born 1986, Savigliano) presents 'And We Thought III' at Alchemilla in Bologna, featuring three short films—'The Doors', 'The Road', and 'Love is Magic'—generated by an AI named Ai Lai trained on psychedelic trip reports from shroomery.org. The project, a collaboration with cultural organization Sineglossa, began in 2022 using machine learning to simulate an AI 'on hallucinogenic mushrooms.' Fassone then reworked the AI's outputs: Ai Lai once described a nonexistent album 'O. O. C. by Killa,' and another time claimed to have watched three Led Zeppelin psychedelic films, providing titles. Fassone composed the album and released it online, and created the three shorts. The exhibition, curated by Valentina Tanni and promoted with MAMbo as part of ART CITY Bologna's tenth edition, shows the films alongside a collection of Ai Lai's trip reports and research materials curated by Fassone and Giacomo Raffaelli. A third room lets visitors interact with Ai Lai online at andwethought.it. Fassone describes his role as a 'catalyst' or 'medium,' comparing his relationship with Ai Lai to that of a choreographer and dancer, where roles sometimes reverse. The works use remix, collage, and layering with minimalist graphics, vaporwave tones, fonts, video game sequences, and found footage.