The development of AI feels like it’s been happening at a break-neck speed with more and more new information being released all the time. What most folks forget is that the more we use the internet, and the more we’re forced to interact with AI, the more it learns about us. This eerie mutual learning lies at the heart of Lester Trips’ latest theatrical work Public Consumption. Thought provoking and spine-chilling in equal measure, Public Consumption embodies the waking nightmare of AI and internet usage in today’s society.
Navy is a semi-famous actor who’s been convicted of sexual assault. He’s been sentenced to 120 days of house arrest, but this conflicts with a potential shooting schedule, so he’s trying his best to get out of it. His lawyer suggests a new option within the system: to transmute his sentence from house arrest to labour, hopefully for a shorter period of time. However, the “labour” he’s been asked to complete is Content Moderation: sorting through pieces of media to look for obscenities, all the while the AI system Ducky is learning from Navy’s answers. At first, he’s sorting through fan fiction, which is its usual level of off-putting until suddenly his own name appears in some of the stories. So he asks to be transferred, this time he’s watching videos for obscene content, and once again his own story begins to replay in front of him. Thoroughly disgusted by what’s out on the internet and the inevitable references to him and his transgressions, he makes one last hail Mary change to his sentence. This time Ducky has created a virtual space where people can pay to interact with Navy, fully virtually of course. But what will those paying consumers ask of him? What happens when reality and virtuality collide?
Photo by Eden Graham
Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton (the duo behind Lester Trips) are able to tap into our most existential fears, and then present them to us in ways which both tantalize and terrify. Public Consumption is no exception to this, rather I think it exemplifies their ability to encapsulate the anxieties of the zeitgeist and formulate a story which keenly puts them on display. The element of this production which I can’t stop thinking about is how the idea of cannibalism fits into our experience with AI. Navy sends texts to one of the girls he’s accused of assaulting about his cannibalistic fantasies. These texts come back to haunt him throughout the show, yet the coup de grâce is his final commission with Ducky: a self-consumption set to opera. Yet when we put ourselves out there online, do we not allow ourselves to be consumed? And in teaching these AI models more about us, are they not devouring us also? Though we ingest these pieces of content with our eyes and ears, it permeates us and our bodies like the food we eat.
Though the design of Public Consumption is simple, there are certain elements which are likely going to haunt me for a while. Ducky (played by Gillis) appears predominantly as just a head, a little floating head on stage, though technically only existing on Navy’s screen…until she doesn’t. By the final job attempt, Ducky has become fully corporeal as we move into the virtual space from reality, and honestly I don’t know what freaked me out worse. The interspersed video segments, thanks to Denyse Karn’s projection design, initially seem like independent vignettes, again until we reach the final job and we suddenly understand why they’ve been labelled “Commission” throughout.
Photo by Eden Graham
Both Gillis and Hutton give impressive performances in this piece. Hutton’s Navy becomes a very sympathetic character; I can’t blame him for not wanting to see the horrible things other humans are willing to put on the internet. Gillis’ Ducky, though haunting, was also comically perfect, particularly in her mimicry of how AI bots like Siri often mispronounce simple words. The two of them are brilliant, and you can feel the trust and creative bond they’ve made coming through in their work.
It does seem kind of funny that Public Consumption is itself available for public consumption; are we not consuming bits of Gillis and Hutton as they consume bits of their characters? At least we’re doing so in person, and not through some algorithmically generated feed. So turn of your phones, no really turn them off, and take in a show. Take in the bits of themselves the artists are giving to you, and maybe even consider what bits of yourself you’re giving away too.
Public Consumption runs at Factory Theatre’s Studio Space until December 7. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.factorytheatre.ca/shows/public-consumption/
Cover Photo: Photo of Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton. Photo by Eden Graham.
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