Johann Diedrick is an artist, engineer, and educator whose work weaves together audio and AI technologies. Through his installations, performances, and sculptures, audiences can experience the world through sonic encounter. He shares his tools and techniques through listening tours, workshops, and open-source hardware/software. Diedrick is a 2023 Artist-in-Residence at Abrons Art Center and was the director of engineering at Somewhere Good, a 2022 Future Imagination Collaboratory Fellow at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, a 2021 Mozilla Creative Media Award recipient, a 2020 Pioneer Works Technology resident, and a community member of NEW INC. His work has been featured in The Wire and presented internationally at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, MoMA PS1, Dia Art Foundation, and the New Museum, among others. He holds a bachelor of arts in sociology of culture from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degree from New York University’s ITP program.

Project Description

Johann Diedrick plans to examine the origins of racial bias in emerging speech AI and vocal interface technologies. While purporting to work for everyone, these technologies flatten vocal diversity by disciplining marginalized people to modulate their speech through “code-switching for AI ears.” Diedrick plans to bring together a consortium of scholars, researchers, artists, and engineers to think holistically about this issue and create an actionable plan to realize a new vision for AI-powered speech technologies that allow for all voices to be heard.