TRUSTAI uses a dialogue-based interplay between man and machine to address digital change and its significance for people and society. A glass cube with a holographic representation of a human face stands on a table. An AI makes contact with the user; the human face and voice together are the only communication channel. In the course of the dialogue, the face of the visitor is captured by the machine and the machine takes over the visitor's identity.

In TRUSTAI, the machine demonstrates how it can use people's data to influence their lives: We get involved in a conversation, we open up, we reveal things. Seemingly banal things that a learning AI can combine to draw surprisingly accurate conclusions about our personality. How complex is the machine we are communicating with? Which processes are really running in the background and to what extent does it have access to my data?

Today, media content is not only filtered by algorithms, but content is also produced by them. Media users usually retouch the image of themselves that they show to society. However, "truths" about others can also be produced beyond their control: So-called deepfakes, in which faces in videos are authentically faked, for example, are perceived by us as authentic depictions of reality.

Today, the "fourth estate" has migrated from the press and broadcasting to the hands of large corporations and technically powerful states, which use it to pursue their own agendas. These corporations collect data, use algorithms to make judgements and create their own truths. Media and factual truth are ultimately no longer distinguishable.

In TRUSTAI, the visitor experiences a feeling of uncertainty that is increasingly spreading in society as a result of digital change. The extent to which the machine can be trusted remains unclear. But according to Niklas Luhmann's systems theory, trust in self-regulatory processes is a central pillar of our society. With the loss of trust in the system, society is also falling apart.