Church of AI - Project Description

Church of AI 

The connections artificial intelligence maps over a vast network, in a way that's becoming indecipherable to humans, gives rise to speculation that human influence over their fundamental systems is finite, and will one day be overridden. For contemporary fantasists, they bestow AI with supernatural appellations - either good or evil – an entity that will hear everything, see everything, and be everywhere at all times. Anthony Levandowski pledges allegiance by creating 'Way of the Future,' the first church of artificial intelligence, believing the only way to influence a deity is through prayer and adulation. This structure should contemplate an AI that autonomously navigates through a singular world of biology and data. In other words, a Cybernetic system capable of sensing and reacting to humans, other actors, and contextual changes in a continuous feedback loop. The AI church will no longer prioritize human experience, driven rather by autonomous subjectivity. Worship in this context would be the discovery and dialogue between the human actor and this process of building and unbuilding; the production, destruction, evolution and re-composition of transient formalizations of space. 

The church is a context disinclined towards utilitarian functionalism, it's construction is instead meditation and communion with god. This show of devotion through craft is followed here in the church of AI.  While automated assembly dominates the future urban fabric, in the church, it can be undercut by human artistry. In defiance of Adolf Loos' Crime and Ornament, the human craftsman can make a comeback. No-longer a waste of time and labor – the ultimate automation and objectivity of the robot supports the ultimate customization and objectivity of the craftsman. Both working at the natural pace of the craftsman, ornamentation now becomes 'conductor' - a way to unearth voids in this turbulent architecture.  

Using Deep Dream – An AI software – as tool to produce the first image iterations, craftsmen can extract modules the AI will use to produce the structural density of the church walls. By taking advantage of automation, these complex structures can be constructed rapidly and will provide craftsmen with a raw substructure for alteration.  The church plan shows the changes in style as the church is built out following striations from the center – much like a classical church organization. However, as styles shift and grow, old pockets will become inaccessible in this non-anthropocentric context.  

The spirit of the church is experienced through its construction – built at different scales. Similar to historical churches, the geometric structure of the larger building, can be read within the structure of individual walls and columns. These interstitial vessels that can be revealed by human craftsmen or experienced virtually, when parts of the church are no longer accessible, will complete the experience of the church. 

While the AI is a site-less, indeterminate entity, the AI church can be built in different locations. The style of each AI church is unique to its site so that it can be seen as connecting with a lineage of religiosity already existing in its surroundings. Thus, the database collected for each church will be of local vernacular. Here, the building materials will also adapt to local specializations – metal work, stone work, or glass work – so the resulting architecture will evolve alongside its worshipers. However, since the AI itself is whole – all its parts in open communication with the others – each church will reveal its connective tissues with the others on the outer layers of structure. These interactions will produce a subset of spaces that diverge from the pure monumentality of the main voids. This step is the next crucial development in collaborating with AI as the inputs to the database will be three-dimensional – allowing the AI to learn and develop 3D articulation.