Solomon Project - The Art of the Prank

August 20, 2025

Breaking News: The Solomon Project finds Elon Musk GUILTY

Here comes the judge… Again!

Elon Musk declares his AI, Grok, will be the new judge and jury once it has devoured all judicial case law. Says Musk on X, “With Grok 3, we are adding all court cases to the training set. It will render extremely compelling legal verdicts.”

Solomon says, “Wait a minute, Joey Skaggs created me 30 years ago as a distributed program running on a set of super computers that would deliberate on the facts and evidence of a case and deliver a definitive verdict.”

Appropriation isn’t appreciation, it’s exploitation. Give credit where credit is due. https://joeyskaggs.com/works/solomon-project/

Here’s an excerpt from “Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project” oral history film:
Click here to play

Solomon asks, “What other creative concepts has Elon pilfered?”

October 10, 2024October 10, 2024

“Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project” Wins Best TV/Web Episode

29 years ago, Joey Skaggs created The Solomon Project, a series of super computers utilizing AI to replace the entire American judicial system… What could possibly go wrong?

Last month (September 2024), Joey Skaggs’ oral history documentary, “Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project,” an episode in the oral history series, “Joey Skaggs Satire and Art Activism, 1960s to the Present and Beyond,” was awarded Best TV/Web Episode by the Williamsburg International Film and Music Competition (WilliFest).

Next month (November, 2024), it will be featured in the NewsFest Film and Writers’ Festival and the South Carolina Underground Film Festival!

Screening details are here.

September 1, 2024September 1, 2024

Steffani Martin (1940-2024) RIP

It is with sadness that I have to say goodbye to my long-time friend Steffani Martin who left us September 1, 2024. I knew Steff for over 50 years. She was a profound thinker and was extremely funny with a quick wit. Whenever I called on her to take on a role as a co-conspirator in one of my performances, she was always there for me. She appeared in the Fat Squad portraying a “fat client” when I hoaxed David Hartman on Good Morning America in 1986.

In 1990, she played a telephone receptionist for both Comacocoon and Hair Today, LTD., launched simultaneously from the same apartment, and she appeared on Italy’s RAI TV coverage of the two performances. In 1995, she played a computer technician in the Solomon Project, my hoax about AI replacing the American judicial system, a fabrication that CNN fell for hook, line and sinker.

In real life, among other endeavors, she was a college administrator and later a pioneer supporting equal rights for women, particularly in the field of pornography. She was sought-after as a spokesperson on porn made specifically for women by women. Steff deserves a long and colorful obit to laud her many accomplishments, as well as a book about her life.

February 3, 2024February 10, 2024

“Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project” to screen in two film festivals in Feb, 2024

San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest): Thursday, February 8-18, 2024. Online for 10 days. Tickets are here.

New Jersey Film Festival, Spring 2024: Friday, February 9, 2024. In-Person at 7 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ AND Online for 24 Hours. Tickets are here.

Anita LaBelle has penned an insightful review of the film for New Jersey Stage Magazine.

Reminder: “Joey Skaggs: Celebrity Sperm Bank” will be streaming free until May 31, 2023 at the Pérez Art Museum Miami Exhibition, Perpetual Motion, Curated by Barbara London.

November 1, 2019December 15, 2023

AI in the Courtroom: Joey Skaggs’ Solomon Project Revisited

In 1995, Joey Skaggs launched his Solomon Project hoax. Solomon (so he said) was a distributed program running on a set of super computers that would deliberate on the facts and evidence of a case and deliver a definitive verdict, eliminating the need for juries and radically reducing the role of judges. CNN fell for the Solomon Project hook, line and sinker. Reality may finally be catching up with Skaggs. h/t Felipe

Robot judges ‘will pass sentence with no human bias’ in AI courts
by Michael Moran
Daily Star
October 19, 2019

Increasing use of AI in legal system points the way to an all-robot courtroom

It’s likely that most people locked in our jails believe that with a better lawyer, a more lenient judge or a more understanding jury things might have been very different for them.

Human error, they will say, is to blame for them being banged up.

But can the human element be removed? Law firms are already using computer algorithms to perform background research other tasks traditionally performed by human staff. And that’s just the beginning.

As computer researchers get closer to creating true Artificial Intelligence, it’s predicted to eliminate most paralegal and legal research positions within the next decade.

The next step inevitably involves artificial intelligences aiding, or even completely replacing lawyers. And if we have robot lawyers, why not automated judges and juries too? Why not a fully solid-state legal system?

Read the rest of this article here »