For Are You Human, directed by Oddalys Salcido, the score was conceived as a musical extension of the film’s central question: how does a machine attempt to prove its humanity?

One of the core musical ideas revolves around the synthesiser “TB-303” classic acid techno sound, spelling the word HUMAN in binary. Using 0s and 1s translated into low and high A notes, the sequence becomes a melodic code—at once mechanical and expressive. What emerges is a fragile attempt at self-definition: a robot articulating its humanity through sound, using the only language it knows.

Another pivotal moment in the score stems from a direct interaction with artificial intelligence. When asked which classical piano piece it would choose to convince a human of its own humanity, the AI selected a Bach composition in A. I took the MIDI files for both the left and right hands and reinterpreted them through the TB-303, before heavily manipulating and degrading the audio. As the music unfolds, the familiar structure of Bach begins to fracture, creating the sensation that the machine, while trying to appear human, is slowly breaking down in the process.

Language itself also becomes part of the score. A modified quote from Maya Angelou, “We are all human; therefore, nothing human can be alien to me,” is voiced by a synthetic presence. Spoken by a machine, the phrase takes on a disturbing ambiguity: a declaration of empathy that may also be an act of deception.

Set in a world where captchas have evolved into near-impossible tests and proving one’s humanity is no longer straightforward, Are You Human blurs the line between flesh and machine. The score mirrors this tension, oscillating between order and collapse, logic and emotion, while echoing the film’s suggestion that perhaps movement, rhythm, and dance remain the last true indicators of what it means to be human.