Speed Makes Us Oblivious: A Slow and Responsible Approach to Engaging with Audio Sample Archives

Trisha Khallaghi, Pete Bennett, and Atau Tanaka

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

AI and the culture of speed it accelerates has significantly influenced music consumption, resulting in an economy characterised by excess, and raises important questions around consent, data provenance, and accessibility. We introduce Slow Samples, a web-based platform built on ethical principles, designed for the responsible sharing, exploration, and documentation of audio sample collections, with consent embedded from the start and accessibility beyond academic contexts as core commitments. Initial artist interviews informed the design, highlighting ongoing concerns regarding provenance, cultural appropriation, and the ethical implications of AI in music. Rooted in slow consumption, intentional friction, slow AI, and design by refusal, the platform opposes infrastructures that prioritise efficiency over context and scale over community, which is realised through extensive required metadata, timed microboundaries, provenance tracking, and constrained AI tooling. We argue that design can be a site of resistance, and that small acts of refusal in infrastructure lay the foundation for alternative practice.

Citation

Trisha Khallaghi, Pete Bennett, and Atau Tanaka. 2026. Speed Makes Us Oblivious: A Slow and Responsible Approach to Engaging with Audio Sample Archives. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20741970 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_alt_11,
 abstract = {AI and the culture of speed it accelerates has significantly influenced music consumption, resulting in an economy characterised by excess, and raises important questions around consent, data provenance, and accessibility. We introduce Slow Samples, a web-based platform built on ethical principles, designed for the responsible sharing, exploration, and documentation of audio sample collections, with consent embedded from the start and accessibility beyond academic contexts as core commitments. Initial artist interviews informed the design, highlighting ongoing concerns regarding provenance, cultural appropriation, and the ethical implications of AI in music. Rooted in slow consumption, intentional friction, slow AI, and design by refusal, the platform opposes infrastructures that prioritise efficiency over context and scale over community, which is realised through extensive required metadata, timed microboundaries, provenance tracking, and constrained AI tooling. We argue that design can be a site of resistance, and that small acts of refusal in infrastructure lay the foundation for alternative practice.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {11},
 author = {Trisha Khallaghi and Pete Bennett and Atau Tanaka},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20741970},
 editor = {Allie Texeira Riggs and Giacomo Lepri and Yann Seznec},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {14},
 pages = {59--72},
 title = {Speed Makes Us Oblivious: A Slow and Responsible Approach to Engaging with Audio Sample Archives},
 track = {alt.nime},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_alt_11.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}