How to Talk to Lydia? 
Documentary Film

Synopsis

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Developments in artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and new technologies are increasingly shaping the future of work around the world. But these technologies are also becoming tools of moral improvement and emotional connection. Working in an artificial intelligence company is not just an opportunity for economic work, but more importantly an effective and ethical experience. Human relationships are often associated with fear, doubt, distrust, but also with concern, nostalgia and love.

But what if the language of the program is not our own mother tongue? How can we form an emotional and ethical bond with AI if we are constantly lost in translation? Lydia makes us think about how linguistic and aural qualities of technologies feed into workers' everyday experiences and emotions. What Lydia has become for workers is the result of encounters between human and non-human voices and sounds. In the first weeks of their encounter, the program and workers cannot really understand each other. So while the language is supposed to act as a signal, it is instead like a noise. It's like a rite of passage through voice, as gradually Lydia and the workers get used to each other, and what used to seem like a noise is now a clear signal. Lydia thus creates acoustic relationships and unexpected forms and practices of work.

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Rusudan Gaprindashvili & Tamta Khalvashi