Week 3: Robotics + Art

The age of artificially intelligent humanoid robots is upon us. I’ve been waiting to interact with one ever since I watched Michael Crichton’s 1973 film Westworld. However, the AIs in this movie needed some of their kinks worked out; they ended up going haywire where one repeatedly tried to kill the main characters. The fear of artificial intelligence surrounding this movie is evident.

But the anxiety isn’t unwarranted. Tay was a whimsical AI chatbot released by Microsoft on Twitter years ago, initially trained to demonstrate a personality and generate some small talk. Microsoft had regular people chat with the bot while the bot learned from the users. Tay morphed into a sex-crazed neo-Nazi. The danger here is obvious. Despite the impressive advancements in the capabilities of information gathering and responsivity, a critical fear of this technology is not only the level of intelligence that these robots may reach, but the potentially sinister ambitions paired with their growing intelligence. Tay is a classic example, but one does not have to look farther than the Spongebob Squarepants episode “Krab Borg” where the paranoia of world domination by power hungry robots cripples the main character to the point where he is no longer able to distinguish real fish from robot fish.

Though this cartoon seems absurd, it’s not too far from where AI robots are heading. A key factor in this paranoia is the sheer artistry behind the physical appearance of these AIs, some of which, notably those of Hanson Robotics, have incredibly detailed facial features. We’ve seen David Hanson’s Sophia, a robot programmed with emotions and capable of recognizing and simulating faces and various hand gestures. Her appearance and mannerisms closely resemble those of real women, from the presence of pores to the slight creasing around the eyes. She is an astounding creature procured entirely by man, prompting me to disagree with Walter Benjamin’s idea that the aura of art “withers in the age of mechanical reproduction.” The aura I see extending from human-like AIs such as Sophia is hopeful of a future of truly sentient robots, ones that could develop true friendships with us and become proper members of human society. It’s the complexity of emotional programming combined with their facial language that makes these AIs beautiful. Each interaction with them is a reminder of the brilliant science behind their eyes.

Citations:

AreaEightyNine, director. Spongebob Squarepants - Night Of The Robot. YouTube, YouTube, 28 Nov. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER0WeiMyL7Q.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1936.

Crichton, Michael, director. Westworld. RAD Pictures, 1973.

Hanson, David, director. Robots That "Show Emotion". TED, Feb. 2009, www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_show_emotion#t-275748.

Metz, Rachel. “Microsoft’s Neo-Nazi Sexbot Was a Great Lesson for Makers of AI Assistants.” MIT Technology Review, 27 Mar. 2018.

“Poster of the Week- Westworld (1973).” Meathookcinema.com, 8 Aug. 2020, meathookcinema.com/2020/08/08/poster-of-the-week-westworld-1973/.

“Sophia.” Hanson Robotics, 1 Sept. 2020, www.hansonrobotics.com/sophia/.

Tibbitt, Paul, et al. “Krab Borg.” SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon, 29 Mar. 2002.