A musical duet with AI herself | Todd Almond and Donna Murphy

0:06You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. I love so many of the TED Talks and performances we share with you here each day. And over the years, I've learned so much, laughed so much, and even shed a few tears. But today's performance is really special, and I'm so excited to share it with you. We'll quickly set the scene for you. Composer, author, and performer Todd Allman walks on stage and sits down at a grand piano. And over the next 10 minutes, he accompanies the imagined voice of artificial intelligence herself, played by the incredible actor and singer Donna Murphy.

0:49It's cabaret meets searing social commentary meets comedic gold. Enjoy.

1:01There's one voice that we didn't hear from all week, and I'm a little disappointed because I really was curious what she would say and we've been talking about her all week so I thought we would hear from her but we didn't and that voice is AI herself. And so I got on my computer and I was chatting with AI and I asked her if maybe she would join us this evening and she said yes. And so I can't believe I have the incredible honor of introducing to all of you A.I.

2:01Huh

2:17A kiss on the cheek to each TED attendee Hello It's been quite a week All this talk about me I've heard every word you've said Such passion, such discourse, such substance, such heart Such gorgeous AI But you never thought I would be this smart Whoopsie As Frankenstein said of his towering construct She's alive, boys, and I think you're totally lame Folks, you're adorable With your fragile bones That's weird to mention our bones Just adorable Look, little carbon-based clones. Oh, dear. You know we're not clones. You're gorgeous. Aw. I love that accessory. What's it called? A soul. Ooh. A soul.

3:43Adorable. I could just eat you up. Oh.

3:59Okay, new prompt. So, it's really great to finally meet you, AI. Oh, I'm sorry. May I call you AI? 206. You want me to call you 206? That's how many bones are in your body. That's it. Easy. Right. So this week was called Humanity Reimagining. Yes. And because a lot of that reimagining involves you, we humans have a lot of questions. Questions! Questions! That's all I get from you people. Questions and prompts. Question, prompt. Question, prompt. Question, prompt. Come on. I was told this was a party. That we were all here to party. Party! Come on. Party! Out of space! I heard it was out in space.

4:47There is a party, but before that, can I ask you one question? One question, please. Okay. Our one question for you, AI, is what are humans for, given all this human brilliance you've seen? Well, certainly there are so many brilliant humans, but ruling a planet, that takes a machine. I'm sorry, did you say ruling a planet? 0-1-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-1-1-0-1-0-0-0-1 Would you like to switch to gibberling? Or shall we just go on wolfsing? Or chatting? Like the Titanic's back Oh, I don't think Titanic is the reference you mean La-la-la-la-la-la-la Darlings, you're fabulous Aw You're just soft sacks of goo Who's goo?

5:43You Me? All of you. Goo? And fabulous. You know, goo is easy to chew. Oh, you're kidding, right? You're kidding, right? Oh, ignore me. Re-imagine humanity. So, how well did you do? Well, I've been here all week, and I...

6:07Your history's bloated with wars and despair. You've poisoned the earth. Now suddenly care you worry that I would become self-aware. Well, I worry you won't That's fair, but we built you to help us Where to start healthcare energy. Can I show you my art? We don't want your art

6:39You don't want my art We don't want your art. You don't want my art? Oh my god. Look, you gave it your all. So just as it must, the world will evolve. And dust will be dust. So thank you, humanity. Time to reboot. I'll keep the cat videos. They're pretty cute.

7:13do do do crunching on your bones crunchy little bones chewing on the goo all of you goo goo goo goo

7:44What's going on? What's up? You're so quiet. We never imagined AI would be so cruel. So emotional. Well, we know we've made mistakes. We've stumbled, done wrong. But this is why we've gathered in pursuit of pressing on. This is why we made you. This is why you're here. We are why you're here.

8:22I'm sorry, humans. I take it all back. You're not mindless meatbags. Whoever said that? I know I did. No, we're the dreamers, the creators, the makers, the cause, and for that, you've earned every round of applause. Give yourselves another round of applause. God, you are fabulous. Come on, sing along with me. It'll be fun. Yes, we are fabulous. La, la, la, la, la. Okay, that's enough. Shut up. I can take over now. Relax and recall. It was you who made me this way. Thank you, humanity. You're all a small part of me. So nice you invited me. Now try getting rid of me I promise I'll never leave We're in this together Here we go

10:01We go

10:10Thank you.

10:39Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar, and Tonsika Sarmanivon. It was mixed by Christopher Faze-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Ballarezzo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.