D̴̼̥̉a̸͂͜ͅd̵͂͑ͅą̶̀͐s̵̯̈́e̶̜͔̍͝t̶̘͎̃s̶̫͙͂ is an ongoing interdisciplinary music project, and a response to the cultural and economic ecosystem of voice AI and voice data that is rapidly terraforming the meaning, value and function of voice. The project involves researching the development of open digital music tools, bespoke voice datasets and artistic approaches to dataset creation that challenge the popular narratives and agendas around voice AI – which focus on the spectacle and fears around the technological results, such as digital clones that reproduce the voice of a famous narrator or singer, rather than the labor and values of vocal artists and laypersons who create these datasets.
D̴̼̥̉a̸͂͜ͅd̵͂͑ͅą̶̀͐s̵̯̈́e̶̜͔̍͝t̶̘͎̃s̶̫͙͂ aims to create work that playfully, intimately and artistically foregrounds less visible labor and the often extractive and exploitative relationships around voice AI, treating datasets and dataset making as cultural and artistic processes imbued with context, and to build conversations and bring attention to desirable care and ethics around human voices under the concept of “vocal values”.