In creative circles, there are artists who worry that Artificial Intelligence could replace them. Not roboticist and artist Alexander Reben: he’s entered the belly of the beast as the first artist-in-residence at Open AI.
Reben's piece titled “A Short History of Plungers and Other Things That Go Plunge in the Night” is comprised of six toilet plungers all in a row. The wood handle of each plunger gets progressively shorter until the final one is just a black rubber cap with no handle at all. While these plungers are very much man made, it turns out that this entire arrangement was the invention of AI.
Today on The Culture Show, he joins host Jared Bowen to talk about collaborating with AI instead of being replaced by it.
From there, a preview of next week's eclipse festivities and how towns are preparing. New England towns in the path of totality are experiencing a tourism boom, and The Culture Show co-host Edgar B Herwick III joins the show fresh from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to talk about how the town is getting ready for the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8.
Finally, Chelsea-born musician Lizzy Shapiro credits her career to local community theater. Now she’s back, performing at City Winery Boston as the lead singer of Lizzy and the Triggermen, a 10-piece jazz band. She previews the show with a heartwarming story about the band's origins.
It's all on The Culture Show — listen to the full episode above!
