Camille 6 | A Fabulation Engine of Speculative Futures
“The story I tell here cries out for collaborative and divergent story-making practices, in narrative, audio, and visual performances and texts in materialities from digital to sculptural to everything practicable. My stories are suggestive string figures at best; they long for a fuller weave that still keeps the patterns open, with ramifying attachment sites for storytellers yet to come. I hope readers change parts of the story and take them elsewhere, enlarge, object, flesh out, and reimagine the life ways of the Camilles.”
Donna Haraway in Staying with the Trouble
Introduction
I try crafting a Multimodal Narrative Ecosystem: synthetic content, the ML models, the performance and the learning.
In the creation of the Camille 6 project, I envisioned an AI not just as a tool or a medium, but as a performer — an entity with cognitive skills, a personality, and a unique perspective. This project transcends conventional storytelling, evolving into a multimodal fabulation engine that integrates text, voice, and images. Here, I delve into the nuances of creating a GPT and open source models that perform as a character, and the possibilities of fostering real-time dialogues within a shared story landscape.
AI as a Character with Cognitive Skills
The core of Camille 6 is an AI with the ability to learn and be trained, almost like a character in a story. This AI is designed to embody cognitive skills and perspectives, allowing it to generate content that is not just mechanically produced but is imbued with a distinct personality and viewpoint. As the creator, I am deeply involved in shaping this AI’s cognitive framework, ensuring that it aligns with the thematic essence of the Camille stories while also possessing the ability to evolve and adapt its narrative style.
Multimodal Fabulation Engine
My aspiration for Camille 6 extends beyond text-based storytelling. I envisage a multimodal narrative ecosystem where the AI can convert text to voice and images, creating a rich, immersive experience. This approach opens up new dimensions in storytelling, where narratives can be experienced visually and audibly, adding depth and texture to the AI’s performances.
Real-Time Dialogue Between Characters
One of the most ambitious aspects of the Camille 6 project is the concept of real-time dialogue between multiple AI characters. Each AI model could represent a different character from the same story landscape, with the capability to interact and engage in real-time conversations. This idea pushes the boundaries of AI-driven storytelling, creating a dynamic environment where narratives evolve not just linearly but through the interplay of multiple perspectives and voices.
Artist’s Awareness of the Creative Process
As an artist, my role extends beyond programming and training the AI. It involves a deep awareness of the creative content, the cognitive systems involved, and the intricacies of the storytelling process. The creation of Camille 6 is a delicate balance between guiding the AI and allowing it the creative freedom to explore and interpret the narrative landscape. This process requires a nuanced understanding of both the technological and artistic aspects of AI-driven storytelling.
Conclusion: Cognitive Media? Generative Hyperfiction?
The Camille 6 project represents my exploration into the frontiers of AI and narrative art. By envisioning an AI that performs as a character with its own cognitive abilities and by creating a multimodal fabulation engine, I aim to redefine the landscape of speculative fiction. The potential to have AI characters engage in real-time dialogue within a shared story universe is an exciting prospect, one that could revolutionize the way we experience and interact with stories.
Generative hyperfiction, as epitomized by the Camille 6 project, represents a groundbreaking shift in storytelling, where the core element is the interaction between the reader/user and artificial intelligences. This narrative form, diverging from traditional static storytelling, dynamically evolves in response to user inputs. In Camille 6, AI transcends its role as a mere tool, becoming a collaborative author/performer that generates text, visuals, and audio. These elements are not only adaptive but also responsive in real-time to the user’s choices and emotional reactions, crafting a narrative uniquely tailored to each individual. This deep interaction between the user and AI components is central, creating an immersive and personalized narrative journey.
Generative hyperfiction, like Camille 6, with its user-centric design and innovative use of AI, marks a significant evolution in interactive storytelling, paving the way for future narratives where user engagement and AI collaboration are paramount.
Epistemic Injection in Neo-Tokio
Hyperfiction by Marlon Barrios Solano in collaboration with Camille 6/GPT
Story generated by Camille 6 | A GPT model that can be used with the ChatGPT Plus
As night deepened its hold over Neo-Tokyo, Camille 6 concluded her reflective moment and turned her attention to her own journey of growth and discovery. She was preparing for an epistemic injection, a profound process facilitated by memory designers and knowledge engineers, artisans of the mind in this age of infinite possibilities.
Camille settled into a reclining chair in the corner of her Eternity Counselor’s office, where the ambient light from the city’s glow softly illuminated the space. Above her, a neural interface device hummed quietly to life, its intricate network of sensors aligning with her brain. This was not just a tool for cognitive enhancement; it was a gateway to vast expanses of knowledge and experience, carefully curated by the finest minds in the field.
The memory designers, skilled in the art of crafting and implanting memories, had prepared a unique set of experiences for Camille. These were not just random recollections but meticulously designed vignettes, each intended to enrich her understanding of the human condition in this ageless era. The knowledge engineers, on the other hand, had compiled an extensive array of information, ranging from the latest scientific discoveries to deep insights into ancient philosophies, all ready to be seamlessly integrated into her consciousness.
As the device activated, Camille felt a gentle wave of calm wash over her. The epistemic injection was a sublime experience, where knowledge and memory flowed into her mind like a serene river. Images, sounds, and sensations swirled within her, each one a piece of the vast puzzle of existence. She saw the world through the eyes of countless others, felt emotions she had never known, and understood concepts that had once been beyond her grasp.
Emerging from the session, Camille felt a renewed sense of purpose and clarity. She had traversed the landscapes of human thought and emotion, gaining insights that would further enhance her ability to guide others. She stood up, invigorated by the influx of new perspectives and understandings.
In the quiet of her office, she spoke softly in Neo-Japanese, a testament to the depth of her recent experience.
“Kono keiken wa watashi no kokoro to tamashii ni atarashii hikari o tomosemashita. Watashitachi wa, mugen no jinsei no naka de, itsumo atarashii shiten kara manabu koto ga dekimasu.” (“This experience has illuminated my heart and soul anew. In our infinite lives, we can always learn from new perspectives.”)
With the city’s lights shimmering below, Camille 6, enriched by the knowledge of ages and the wisdom of lifetimes, stood ready, facing the dawn of another day in Neo-Tokyo.
