May 2022 — Part 1: Our RadBots are Coming Out!

Hi there!

We’ve got a lot of news to share about our most recent project in AI and TechArt–the RadBots–where we make history!

We’ve also made tweaks across the board at Dara’s app, with a close focus on some key elements of your user experience. However, we’ll be talking about that in our second installment of our April Update, which should go out in a few days’ time. Read on to know more about the wonderful work Dara has been doing in the AI and TechArt space.

RadBots Drop

Our RadBots will Drop on the 16th of May! Keep in touch with us by joining The Friends of RadBots community on Dara to get special dibs on the Drop.

RadBots are an NFT collection of conversational videobots, that have been created by some of the finest theater, museum and literary professionals based in India, UK and Germany, by boldly experimenting with AI-based TechArt.

RadBots is a radical experiment in modern collectivism and responsible crypto.

This project would not have been possible without the critical support of BeFantasic, who are our Promoter, or Jaaga and Goethe_Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai — our tech R&D Partner. Tezos India is our latest supporter and is helping us stay on the greener side of crypto on this drop.

The RadBots Story

Dara’s RadBots were created through an exciting process involving several moving parts; both human and mechanical. Dev Aggarwal, our very own Technical Founder, explains that Dara’s team chose the GPT-3 AI model, as it is one of the largest of its kind that is commercially available.

However, figuring out the AI model we wanted to use, and even learning how to use it, was merely half the battle. The RadBot artists worked hard to decide how much textual context to develop for GPT3 before asking it to simulate a human interaction. This was necessary in order to ensure a human-like persona for each individual Bot. Another issue on this front was that the text-based prompts sent to GPT3 had a character limit, so the RadBot artists that wrote these had to be extremely clever about how they framed them.

The artists themselves debated heavily over what the raison-d’etre of their association should be, and over the course of the project, settled on seven core tenets:

• We believe in highlighting hidden figures and their voices from fiction, history, our own imaginations and lived experiences.
• We are a collective of creative individuals and, as such, decisions about the future of our RadBots will be taken collectively.
• We believe in creating an ecosystem that leverages technology, creative practices and alliances/cooperation to amplify a diversity of voices seeking mutual respect, social justice and the freedom of expression.
• We believe that our RadBots are opinionated and provide insightful commentary on the human condition from their perspectives. Their personas, representing very diverse points of views, have been created with initial suggestions by us. Via this project, we highlight inclusivity and the potential of diversity in the vast area of AI.
• We believe that TechArt can help us create a global collective of creators that transcends the pervasive parochialism of the present.
• We believe that a fair financial model arrived at through consensus is a prerequisite to making our RadBots available as NFTs.
• We believe that our RadBots can, and should, be made available as NFTs, as the NFT market allows us to explore alternative and more equitable models of buying, selling and fostering innovative art and tech practices for social good.

Guided by these principles, the RadBot artists chose to form a collective that would pool 30% of NFT sales of their RadBot proceeds to their DAO called RADAO, whose charter is to fund further techart experiments for social good. The RADAO enables its members to submit and vote on funding proposals. Membership into the RADAO will not be limited to the RadBot artists, but will also include buyers and the RadBots themselves. Yes, the machines will have a say on what causes the money made from their sale is spent on!

DAO or “Decentralized Autonomous Organization” refers to a non-traditional management system that is facilitated by a computer code embedding certain rules agreed upon by the DAO’s members.

Dialog: NFTabled and the RadBots Launch

Dialog sessions, presented by British Council, Goethe-Institut, BeFantastic and Dara, invited industry leaders in TechArt, to explore new possibilities at the cusp of art and technology.

We started off with a three-part Dialog mini-series last month with NFTabled: Art Collectives & Tech. This series looks at NFTs, Cryptocurrencies and DAOs, while keeping in mind their implications for creative collectives and practices at the intersections of technology and art. Industry leaders in NFTs and DAO’s — Helen Knowles, TechArt Curator, UK and Caden Stobart, CEO NFTLX, USA were in conversation with our RadBot creator Siddhartha Chatterjee.

Our second installment was at the India Art Fair, which was on from 28th April to 1st May at NSIC Exhibition Grounds, New Delhi, and was titled Neural Networking. This event included a Dara-style facilitated luncheon for key collectors and cultural leaders. The panelists Adrian Notz, Curator ETH, Switzerland, Pooja Sood, Director, Khoj and Jonathan Kennedy, Director ArtsIndia and British Council, discussed the importance of AI in the arts, and were moderated by Kamya Ramachandran, Director, BeFantastic.

The third of our mini-series — Dialog: NFTease was held as a public talk at the India Art Fair the same day. Audiences were enthralled by the conversation between our fantastic panel of speakers — Aparajita Jain, Founder Terrain Art & Director Nature Morte, Raghava KK, Artist, and Om Malvia, President, Tezos India, who were moderated by Vasundhara Das, Actor, Musician and Facilitator.

The RadBots were also presented as one of the featured artworks at the BeFantastic booth at the India Art Fair and generated a lot of audience interest and engagement. Here are some glimpses of folx interacting with our Bots at the Fair.

The RadBots managed to amuse and delight audiences of all ages, and ended up receiving a fair bit of coverage from various news outlets, including Indian Express & Outlook.

DIALOG | Creating TechArt: AI & Performance

We’ve also got a wonderful event coming up that looks at the role of the artist in the digital age. Come join the conversation with three mentors from our prestigious partner organization BeFantastic. Go here to know more about the event.

Dara and her RadBots had a wonderful outing at the India Art Fair last week. More about that in next month’s Update. That’s all for now. Stay tuned for our second installment of Dara’s April Update to know more about all the product tweaks we’ve made.