Cooper Jacoby's sculptures at the Whitney Biennial explore how AI corporations and other companies turn personal data into financial assets. His five works, displayed in a green-carpeted space he describes as "almost like a rat trap," include the 2026 piece *Estate (July 10, 2022)*—a folding screen with an intercom that uses AI trained on social media posts from deceased creatives to generate vocal outputs. Another series, *Mutual Life*, features eye-like sculptures with clock hands that spin based on the biological age of anonymous individuals in the artist's network. Jacoby's work highlights the lack of regulation around digital life and death, and the opaque nature of AI systems.
Jacoby's contribution matters because it offers a critical, tangible antidote to the black-box nature of AI, making visible how tech giants exploit user data as "fertiliser" for their models. By centering on the digital afterlives of anonymous creatives, the work raises urgent questions about privacy, consent, and the rituals surrounding online existence and death. As one of the standout pieces in a major survey of rising artists, Jacoby's sculptures underscore the growing role of contemporary art in interrogating the social and ethical implications of rapidly advancing technology.