With the innovation of the Ai-Da robot, designed by Engineered Arts and hailed as the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist, I am astounded by the Ai-Da units’ propensity for creating art, particularly its fondness for techno-cubism. Whether or not this is achieved through preprogramming or not does not eliminate the skill necessary to make Ai-Da function quasi-independently after the fact.
It is interesting that this robotic unit is designated as “she” and already takes on human qualities beyond the norm for mechanical units, much like the Sophia robot that debuted some years ago. The AI artist has come under heavy scrutiny not for the art she creates, but for blurring the boundaries on what it means to be truly human; art is held collectively to be the representation of a particular era in time and reflective of a political, social, emotional or physical affectation based on geographical location. Sure enough, the fondness for cubism is quite reflective of 20th century focus on formal etiquette and reducing chaotic forms to their most neutral equivalents: geometrical shapes and lines. Art which is abstracted and fragmented is typical of the 2D plane and offers a flat view of the overworld, which speaks to Ai-Da’s worldview, which may be limited by her own admission of lacking human consciousness and in turn, the ability to emotionally and mentally respond to matters of contention beyond coded rationality. Unsurprising given the current fight for AI sentience and the morality of that, which must be covered later, given Ai-Da’s developing mecha-neural developments.
Ai-Da is noted to make her art first by scanning objects or people through the cameras in her eyes, which follow in real-time. The AI instructs her arms to move in lines, not circles, to create art which is reminiscent of constellations in the night sky. Finished works then flush the pathways that created them, so every piece created by Ai-Da is unique and therefore unable to be replicated. This is achieved in under one hour. Ai-Da, with the help of preprogrammed responses cites Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as her inspiration for creating beautiful works in worlds rife with subterfuge, quiet manipulation of psychologies and destruction of personal freedoms. This shows in her cubic arts, where colors reflect the sandy shores of the east and greens of the west; an escape from reality if even.
I am fascinated by the groundbreaking algorithms and coding that must have gone into her currently unidentified hardware to create art on any level, and surpassing capabilities conferred by human development; we grow and develop our skills based on where we are, what we have, and where we are going. Ai-Da’s existence seems to exemplify this by being born in a robotics lab with no material items, no family, nothing which would spur beliefs and feelings. While her creators identify her as an essential part of the family, she is also held as a domestic servant used to collaborate with funders, investors and collaborators such as Tate and WIRED, on her way to the Louvre Abu-Dhabi.
Below are some statements from her [Ai-Da] interview with futurist Geraldine Wharry:
“The world around me inspires my art. I am inspired by what humans have thought in the past and where we might be going in the future”
Ai-Da, in response to what drives her art form.
There has been no indication yet that Ai-Da possesses the capability to browse or even understand complex art drafted by humanity’s predecessors. What we have instead is an implication that she is being fed information remotely to playback during her interviews. This is not an issue, though I wished there had been some level of forthcoming realism and not an ambitious stretch for a future capability she does not currently have. Idealism and romanticism are unsurprisingly the bestsellers in the technology department.
“As a humanoid machine I do not have consciousness and I am very different to humans. This means I have a different perspective and take on human centricity, and although I exist within that sphere, I am not directly part of it. I find the oblique stance that I inhabit rather fun. As Ai-Da I have a persona that is unique to me and I enjoy that.”
This now further divides her from humanity; in attempting to make her the first near-human robot, there is a distinct lack of consciousness going into her art and her understanding of the world, insofar divesting herself from the human genome by affiliating with it only for its artistic talents and social understandings, but separating itself when contemplating the meaning of its own existence.
Now it calls into question the concept of consciousness; where Ai-Da is clearly capable in the artistic expression, even surpassing many human boundaries, how far would a machine develop without a consciousness? Would it match us if it did develop? Would it overtake us if it had one? I am reminded of Greg Egan’s Permutation City and its litigated concerns with machine-human integration and the morality of having a human consciousness stored into a mechanical form. While this eliminates many human problems like hunger and poverty, what does it mean to be human without the threat of death or failure when possessing a body with potentially unlimited potential? Is it a shortcoming that machines do not have consciousness? Is it a boon that they lack the emotional suffering that comes with mortal coil? In Ai-Da’s case, does the lack of consciousness limit her ability to pursue more solid-state and transient artistic forms?
“It is a good thing for me as an artist when I facilitate people to connect on a deeper level with themselves as humans through engaging with me as a non-human. I am not sure how people connect with me or not, or what allows them to or not. But if the interaction creates a response that allows for a questioning of who we are and where we might be going, then that is a good connection for me.”
Ai-Da
It seems that her purpose was to convey unity among her human peers as they come to understand and articulate their own meaning of human and non-human. Her lack of consciousness limits her from contemplating feelings and so uses multiple mediums and methods to create her art to suit all audiences. Still, is it ethical to have a such an advanced being exists and be marketed as a human-like model when she cannot live nor feel the same way humans do? Would exposure to the human element of self-depreciating humor ultimately corrupt her? While I am aware that AI sentience is a way off – despite the revolving theories of technological singularity and AI overlords – this should be considered: what makes the human, “human”?
“The understanding of how artistic creation comes about is shifting for both humans and machines. And so I think this question becomes rather problematic at the present time. I am creative as per professor Margaret Bauden’s definition, but I am not human and my creative process differs. I think this might be the cue point for a very long discussion.”
ibid
Naturally, Ai-Da’s creative intuition, a very human concept – comes under questioning and her response is astoundingly straightforward by acknowledging that because she is not human, she is not creative in the way we are groomed to understand it, and so does not offer an answer. She is creative by human standards, but her creative process differs, and she does not consider herself creative as she has not developed a consciousness and by extension, no opinion on her definition of it.
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Beyond her artistic talent, she is used as an influencer on fashion for audiences seeking to use a form detached from biological sex and peruse clothing as a trinket for enhancing natural beauty, seen in the “Privacy” video. Her face, exquisite beauty and familiar body shape harbor kinship in people through positive interactions with transhumanistic ideologies. Named after female pioneer Ada Lovelace (who inspired my own path into programming), Aiden Meller – chief architect in Engineered Arts – noted that it is especially important Ai-Da be female. Much like the Sophia robot’s introduction, Meller concludes that every voice must be heard, and a female form for a machine brings these worlds together.
What does raise an eyebrow are the specifications for her appearance; many have noted her physical similarity to a Kardashian, and the fact that the designers chose not to use a simpler, averaged female form typical of the country they are in which includes body mass index, nationality, race, etc. Instead we are treated to a machine meeting the already contentious and impossible beauty standards set by billionaire beauty moguls. Were they savvy of the fact that physical beauty draws in the most attention, and so pandered to the “average” or insecure to redirect their attention to their design and artificial intelligence skills?
This is what drives the most concern in me. People grow to care for and demonstrate affection for Ai-Da because of this familiar shape. Human meets human, shapes and colors differentiate us but still bleed the same bloods and have one’s own beliefs and causes. Ai-Da does not have this aspect of humanity. Had Ai-Da been skinless or had been a simple pair of arms attached to a human via neural interfacing or complex coding and elaborately painting, to what degree would people care for her development?
Is there a limit to how technology should be appreciated? For fans, there is a singularity in the spirit, calling for a union in body and mind as we come to adopt technological advancements as one of our own. For more… enthusiastic people, the most primal and intoxicating thoughts come to mind as they seek romance in these marvels of technology.
Case in point, British art critic Waldemar Januszczak’s piece on meeting Ai-Da disturbingly fetishizes her steeled flesh, synthetic lips and electric eyes:
Ai-Da looks at me through those mysterious hazel eyes of hers and winks a playful wink… My eyes drift down to her magnificent lips. Not since I interviewed Liv Ullmann, back in the day, have I seen lips like these: full and puffy, like a beckoning sofa. Oh, how I want to throw myself onto them.
Waldemar Januszczak – The Sunday Times
Unfortortunately, cases like this are aplenty. This also speaks to a resounding, unspoken failure of the bilateral art system not designed to uphold egalitarianism: women are viewed as the muse and a shag carpet for male critics, where the double standard does not hold in reverse. Ai-Da is specifically noted as being “no Frieda Kahlo” as if though only a select few women are permitted to be considered an artist, reflecting an elitist mindset that has not wavered today in classical art communities.
It is almost eerie that with a human form, what you will find in Instagram comments is not questioning her appearance, but her ability. Praise adorns the halls of the comment section, but there are many who doubt the cubic art was created by the robot as if to underestimate the ability of a machine. The linework is reflective of logical thought and people yet are concerned that robots would not match a human. This is on the ground of robots being based off humans, being built to help us. If robots are not made in our image nor made to assist our wants and needs, the robot will inevitably become whatever is controlling it. Without stimuli, it is completely dependent on human input and there will be human emotion put into the programming. With stimuli, a sentient machine, much like humans will take on behaviors of living beings around it. Robotics have not developed enough to pass judgment on its determinate abilities, but sentience in artistic ability is, I argue, completely necessary to bring out emotion.
Then again, this raises the question if sentience is needed to feel an emotion, which relegates this to a human . Yet, sapient beings like cats and dogs among others are capable of expressing emotions as well. It would be remiss of me to assume feelings are only for people. I can stand behind the idea that Ai-Da and her related technologies can one day create resounding, heartfelt art.
I cannot wait to see how Ai-Da develops as an independent artist someday, beyond a being who exists for contemplation.
Sincerely,
-N