The Dalí Museum in Florida recently unveiled a copy of Dalí’s “Lobster Telephone” sculpture that allows visitors to call an AI version of the famous artist.
The Dalí robot can answer questions about his paintings and prints when people speak into the receiver, according to a YouTube video from the museum.
“For years people have been trying to understand my work, trying to find meaning in this reality, trying to make sense of the dreams of a historical genius,” AI Dalí says in the video. “But how can anyone know what is in the burning mind of Salvador Dalí? No, they simply cannot. They are mere mortal human beings. But now I can tell you.”
AI Dalí explains that he was born using a large language pattern and a recreation of his voice – although he also clarifies that this is far beyond his understanding.
Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the advertising agency behind the shellfish-themed phone, used information about Dalí from OpenAI’s GPT-4 and voice samples from archival interviews to create a dupe of Dalí with a convincing sound, the company shared with Business Insider.
In the video demo, the actors asked questions about Dalí’s art (“Why do clocks melt?”) or his quirky, upturned mustache. Martin Pagh Ludvigsen of Goodby Silverstein & Partners told Business Insider that since the museum unveiled the phone on April 11, Dalí has been answering between 400 and 500 questions a day.
What Ludvigsen discovered when analyzing Dalí’s responses is that real visitors will ask the artist just about anything, even love advice.
“Every question of love goes back to his love for his wife, Gala,” Ludvigsen said.
Business Insider tested the robot by asking it questions about Dalí’s works. The robot speaks with grandiose, flowery language, often injecting references to surrealism, dreams, life and death – subjects that the real Dalí explored on canvas.
Dalí also revealed that he is not an avid reader of this publication.
“Business Insider, you say? I sip the cup of imagination, not the trough of market fluctuations. When I seek to understand the world, it is the surrealist, and not the stock market, that whispers its secrets”, Dalí said.
Martin Pagh Ludvigsen/Goodby Silverstein & Partners
There are some limits to its accuracy. Because of his guardrails, he tends to be more optimistic than the real Dalí might have been in certain situations, Ludvigsen said.
There’s also the problem of AI hallucination – where models spit out answers that have no basis in reality. Ludvigsen pointed out, however, that hallucinations can work in their favor, given that the real Dalí’s mind often operated outside of reality.
AI has become a popular tool for businesses and fans to recreate the image of beloved celebrities, living or dead. Some celebrities are enthusiastically on board. However, this raises ethical questions regarding those who cannot consent.
Recently, South By Southwest attendees were able to talk to an AI chatbot about the famous actor Marilyn Monroe. Although Monroe’s estate agreed to use her portrait, we will never know if Monroe herself would have wanted to be used for an AI demonstration at a festival in Texas.
And on Friday, artist Drake used the AI voice of famous rapper Tupac Shakur in a diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar.
Ludvigsen told BI that he and his team have thought about this ethical dilemma — and continue to think about it as other clients express interest in replicating the experience with different artists.
“If we were to recreate another artist in this way, I would want to make sure that we could highlight in their writings or their art or even maybe their foundations – whatever they left behind – that it is something this artist would want us to do,” Ludvigsen said.
As for whether Dalí would approve of the use of his image, AI Dalí told BI that the digitization is a “splendid metamorphosis.”
And Dalí expert Elliott King told NPR that he thinks the late artist might appreciate knowing his voice will live on through his lobster phone.
“He was so interested in scientific advancements,” King told the publication. “I think he would have been really tickled by people talking into that lobster phone.”
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