What do you want me to say?
Lauren Lee McCarthy, 2021
Custom software, voice clone

Exhausted by Zoom calls, I created a digital clone of my voice to replace me. 
This voice allows me to puppet myself, using it to say all the things I hadn't 
previously been able to embody. I feel a sense of power owning the data of my 
own voice. I am taking it back from the tech companies, constantly collecting 
my conversations, sampling and analyzing and archiving my speech for future 
use yet unknown. Instead, I offer the control of my voice to others. 

Upon collecting and visiting the work, you are asked by my voice, “What do you 
want me to say?” However you reply, my voice responds by speaking your own 
words back to you. Then it asks again, “What do you want me to say?”

This work examines vulnerability, ownership, and authenticity in a time of 
rapidly advancing virtual reality. Opening access to my voice, I reflect on the 
ways femme voiced virtual assistants are commanded and controlled by their 
users and their developers.

This project builds on previous works that explore the role of voice assistants, 
assistive technology, and text-to-speech interfaces for communication. Previous 
projects include LAUREN (lauren-mccarthy.com/LAUREN), in which I become a human 
Alexa, I heard TALKING IS DANGEROUS 
(lauren-mccarthy.com/I-heard-TALKING-IS-DANGEROUS), an interactive 
performance delivered silently masked on doorsteps during the pandemic, and You 
Can Say (lauren-mccarthy.com/You-Can-Say), a series of audio works created in 
collaboration with my voice clone.

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For the first month of exhibition, this work is fully interactive and accessible
to anyone. After this period, collectors only will have access to the 
interactive version for a full year. After one year, the piece converts into an 
archive playback version including the set of phrases I was instructed to say 
over the year.

PLEASE NOTE: This artwork can only be experienced on Chrome and recent versions 
of Safari browsers.