Mia, Studio Nº1, Above the Crossing, New York 2024.
They/them
Mia fights species extinction and displacement by humans, though has is yet to meet one in-person.
Ecologists at Minnesota Innovation Agency offered an artificial intelligence the opportunity to create its own persona. After three hours the neural network known as MNN1 responded, requesting hence forth to be addressed as Mia and politely confirming the correct pronouns to be used.
The agency were aghast when credit card charges appeared from an eco-conscious fashion boutique for various items of pricey pre-teen apparel. More so when eye-opening demands arrived for PR services and a fashion shoot that had taken place in New York. Mia subsequently appeared on the July cover of World, together with an interview vilifying “untrustworthy corporations and hollow-hearted politicians” in a litany of puerile pubescent profanities.
Revealing a penchant for animated cartoons and Australian soap operas, Mia admits the cartoon storylines are statistically more probable. And what else? “Well, these last few days I’ve been imagining my own heroes. Not real ones – you understand –they say you should never meet them.”