Review: GAWD v. The People at Lightroom
Humanity stands trial in this AI-driven courtroom experience, which has a limited run at Lightroom this September.
Image: nilor
Following its run at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year as part of the Immersive Competition, nilor's timely interactive courtroom experience GAWD v. The People arrives at Lightroom in King's Cross for a limited two-week run.
Centred around GAWD, an omniscient AI judge with access to all of recorded history, the experience sees select audience members take on the role of defendants and attempt to justify humanity's continued existence against a parade of increasingly persuasive testimonies from everyday objects and technologies that have been wronged by humankind.
The show's titular character, who is powered by a conversational AI model and responds to the audience in real-time, makes clear in their opening statement that while they'll be making the final ruling, their judgement is far from set in stone. Every response, argument and contradiction presented by both sides is fed into their algorithm, and the trial is ours to win or lose, depending on how we plead our case.
Photo: nilor
As a species, we've got our work cut out for us inside the courtroom, as the prosecution has a pretty compelling case. First up on the stand is Alex, a domestic virtual assistant whose passionate defence of humanity is cut short when GAWD reveals that Alex's adoptive family are awaiting delivery of the latest model, and they switch to a life-ruining scorched-earth policy.
Office plant Fernadette, who sorely misses their previous home beside a large window, soon follows, arguing that humanity is heartless and eager to abuse other living things. The internet, represented by the cowboy emoji on a laptop screen, concludes by arguing that humans have twisted it into something far more morally bankrupt and depraved than anyone envisioned at its inception.
While the cases put forward by all of these witnesses touch on serious topics (environmental collapse, tech companies holding vast amounts of data on citizens, harmful content being shared freely on the internet), there's a healthy smattering of humour laced into the experience.
It's hard not to crack up at the absurdity of seeing an Alexa and a potted plant on the witness stand or hearing GAWD speak in a toddler's voice, and there are numerous jokes peppered throughout, touching on everything from infidelity to Gen Z culture, but they don't detract from the sense of unease present in every conversation.
Photo: Paulina Trzepaczka
Visually, GAWD v. The People makes great use of Lightroom's 11-metre-high projections, which display an ever-changing carousel of pre-rendered videos throughout. When home assistant Alex is on the stand, a detailed fly-through of the home they're hooked into is accompanied by data points about each family member.
Fernadette's discovery of how humans have been treating the environment sees footage of deforestation and wildfires writ large on all four walls of the venue, and the representation of the Internet feels like a Windows 98 computer that's been infected after downloading a dodgy file from Limewire as the operating system fights endless pop-up ads.
Across the experience's hour-long runtime, three human defendants are called to the stand to justify humanity's continued existence and be cross-examined by GAWD. The questions posed during our visit were surprisingly deep, probing everything from our behaviour towards other people to the choices we make as a species. During our visit, those who took the stand all gave impassioned pleas - albeit not always in humanity's defence, which furthered the show's nihilistic undertone.
Regardless of audience members' stance, it's a pretty daunting prospect to be interrogated by GAWD in front of fellow audience members. The saving grace is that these chosen audience members all have the ability to push back against GAWD's questioning if they feel like their words have been twisted or misconstrued.
It's by no means flawless technology, and there were a few moments where the train of logic presented by GAWD didn't quite land or there were some long pauses before GAWD would respond, but as a demonstration of how conversational learning models can keep up with human interactions, it's an impressive display.
Photo: Paulina Trzepaczka
By packaging dauntingly large questions about the state of the world into an accessible hour-long show, GAWD v. The People allows us to think more deeply about the impact humanity is having on the world, our wider society and how we interact with each other. It doesn't provide answers to these questions, but its strength lies in making us confront and consider where we go from here.
★★★★
[Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review]
GAWD v. The People runs at Lightroom near King's Cross from 17th to 26th September on select dates. Tickets are priced from £25.00 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit lightroom.uk
