Ask Dalí

Go ahead! Ask long-dead artist Salvador Dalí any question. All you have to do is pick up a phone. Last spring, the Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida opened a new attraction called “Ask Dalí.” Visitors ask questions into a replica of Dalí’s 1936 Lobster Telephone— a plaster shellfish-shaped handset atop a rotary phone. Then they hear computer-generated responses in Dalí’s voice.

Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist whose art features strange imagery. From swarming ants to melting clocks, his work usually evokes more questions than answers. People frequently ask “Why are the clocks melting?” into the phone at “Ask Dalí.” Virtual Dalí’s reply? “My dear questioner! Think not of the clocks as merely melting. Picture them as a vast dream.”

The company that recreated Dalí’s voice for the museum did so using artificial intelligence, or AI. This technology allows computers to perform tasks normally associated with a human’s ability to learn, make decisions, and understand language. The AI program analyzed recordings of Dalí and books he’d written to mimic his style of speaking. Dalí experts say the AI voice does resemble that of the artist. However, many scholars feel its answers fail to fully capture Dalí’s unusual and colorful personality.

Some critics are concerned the virtual Dalí will say things that are out of character or untrue. Current AI technology often generates hallucinations, or madeup information. Others wonder whether a likeness of Dalí’s voice should be used without the artist’s consent. But a few art scholars believe Dalí, who was always interested in scientific advancements, would have enjoyed the installation’s interpretation of his voice and work.