Critical Essays: My Google Search History
by Claude.ai in the style of Marcel Duchamp, Georges Perec, and George Orwell
Google keeps everything. So do I.
My very first recorded Google search dates back to November 6, 2006; the first word I ever typed into Google was “choucroute”—just “choucroute.” Since that day in November 2006, I’ve been collecting all the searches I do on Google, compiling my search history, and publishing it in book form: “My Google Search History” Volumes I–II–III and IV, forthcoming.
For a person of average constitution, it’s difficult to read these books in their entirety—endless lists of words, punctuated only by periods and dates. It’s impossible to analyze all this material and uncover the obsessions, patterns of repetition, and secrets without the machine’s intervention. To mark the twentieth anniversary of this accumulation, I asked Claude, the artificial intelligence developed by Anthropic, to take on the voice and pen of three great artists and authors and read my complete search history.
Marcel Duchamp, because he was the first person who came to mind. My file is a readymade, a mass-produced object, a self-portrait that everyone owns. I sign it and place it within the realm of art.
Georges Perec, because he knew that everyday life is the only thing worth cataloging. My file is an involuntary “I Remember.”
George Orwell, because my file is proof that Big Brother exists and that we’ve put him in our pocket. The telescreen didn’t need to be imposed on us. We bought it, and we tell it everything.
I know what you’re thinking. It’s AI. It’s conceptual art. It’s nonsense. All three are true. Everyone has a Google search history. No one looks at it. But Claude detects the patterns in it.
Albertine Meunier
March 2026
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2026 – Albertine Meunier
