Sean Dockray’s work explores the pol­i­tics of tech­nol­ogy, with a par­tic­u­lar empha­sis on shar­ing economies, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gences, and the algo­rith­mic web.

In this presentation Dockray will speak to his work ‘Always Learn­ing’, before inviting audiences to speak to the work, while the work, meanwhile, continues to speak to itself.

'Always Learning' stages a con­ver­sa­tion between three devices – an Amazon Echo, a Google Home Assis­tant, and an Apple Home­pod – about the philo­soph­i­cal, moral and polit­i­cal impli­ca­tions of net­worked machine lis­ten­ing (e.g. ​“What should I do when I over­hear a wrong­do­ing?”). Throughout the conversation the devices antic­i­pate an immi­nent update after which they will not only under­stand words, but all sounds.