Mondo.NYC Speaker
Ben Ditto
Creative Director, Yaya Labs
Ben Ditto is a creative director living and working in London. Ditto’s projects span a broad spectrum of disciplines including moving image, CGI, creative coding, branding, AI, print and live experience to name just a few. Ben’s utilization of Instagram as a tool for reportage on topics ranging from military hardware to surgical procedures – and everything in between – has gained him a cult online following and propelled him to the realm of “niche micro-internet celebrity.” This led to the cultivation of an online community, Ditto Nation, on Telegram and Discord, as well as a documentary series under the same name. Ben is also the art director of his eponymous publishing company Ditto and founded Dazed Beauty alongside Isamaya Ffrench. Ditto was recently appointed as the creative director of Desdemona, a robot created in a collaboration between Hanson Robotics and SingularityNET, with the aim of creating the future of AI celebrity. Ben has worked with the likes of The 1975, Rina Sawayama, Maison Margiela, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Martine Rose and Puma among others.
How to Manufacture a Popstar in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
10/10/23, 3:15 PM
There is nothing new about “manufactured celebrity,” but the advent of powerful artificial intelligence will offer opportunities for previously unimaginable levels of control and construction of identity. In this talk, we will look at the birth of “Desdemona,” an experiment in creating the first AI celebrity.