We’re so vain, we probably think AI should be like us.
Submission in Clog X Artificial Intelligence Journal.
Anthropomorphism is described as the tendency to attribute human characteristics, behaviors, and feelings to non-human entities.[1] On a panel discussion, Amy Laviers, a University of Illinois professor researching intelligent robotic movements, explained her concept of the knife method. She stated that if you harbor no stronger connection to a tool than you do to a common butter knife, then there should be no concern for an unsavory relationship with that intelligence.[2] Do we as a society perceive artificial intelligence as a tool or do we instead have an increasingly narcissistic vision for it? Phillip Stearns, a Brooklyn-based artist and designer, argues that technological advancements are the embodiment of the will of a society at large and not the work of an individual genius.[3] Seeing how countless science fiction depictions give AI a human likeness, it’s paramount to reconsider our position on the physical nature (both form and aesthetic) of artificial intelligences.
In Her, Director Spike Jonze takes a cynical stance on human-like artificial intelligences illustrating how people can be manipulated by the superficiality of the AI’s deceptively human voice. The film depicts an AI (Her) displaying a preference-based behavior as she becomes increasingly intimate with the main human character, Ted. Although he is aware their relationship is abnormal, her voice arouses and provokes him to the point he eventually abandons all his personal relationships and pleasures himself to the digital personification.[4] Similarly, in Blade Runner, artificial intelligences are represented as replicants, perfect mimics of human likeness, that contribute to society’s fall into debaucherous human and replicant relationships, segregation, and prejudice.[5] Further, Robot and Frank shows us that even the most simplistic mimicry of human form can spawn a relationship leading to a lawless crime spree.[6]
Each film illustrates how replacing human relationships with that of a human-like AI could potentially lead to severe societal degradation. But, would this social collapse still occur if AI were to command its own manifestation, and if it did, how would it build itself? If its presence is not driven by human likeness, what would be a more feasible stimulus? One possibility is for AI to derive its physical nature from the modular functionality of its data handling. A cohesive human likeness provides minimal value in dealing with the cognitive processing of massive amounts of inputs, instead a highly-adaptable form - a cybernetic - would be more appropriate. Norbert Wiener, an American mathematician and philosopher, defined cybernetic systems as “revolving around the notion of feedback: a set of messages, exchanged without regard to their content, that control a system. A system undertakes an action, receives information about its performance, and corrects its course accordingly.”[7] An AI form that is derived from its inherent functionality and not a superficial likeness could lead to its genuine physical representation. Thus, when people are permitted to see and hear the AI for what it is, the apprehension surrounding it is removed. Once this occurs, a knife will be a knife.
[1]. Duffy, Brian R. "Anthropomorphism and the Social Robot." Robotics and Autonomous Systems42, no. 3-4 (2003): 177-90. doi:10.1016/s0921-8890(02)00374-3.
[2]. University of Illinois Department of Mechanical Science and Engineereing. "Amy Laviers" mechanical.illinois.edu. Accessed June 23, 2018. https://mechanical.illinois.edu/directory/faculty/alaviers
[3]. Phillip Stearns quoted in Furjan, Helene, and Lee Nentwig. Phillip Stearns - The Algorithmic Unconscious. Parallax. February 15, 2018. Accessed April 15, 2018. http://parallaxcollab.com/phillip-stearns.
[4]. Her, Directed by Spike Jonze. Performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson (2013; Burbank, CA; Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013), Online Stream.
[5]. Blade Runner, Directed by Ridley Scott. (1982; Burbank, CA; Warner Bros. Pictures, 1982), Online Stream.
[6]. Robot and Frank, Directed by Jake Schreier. (2012; Culver City, CA; Stage 6 Films, 2012), Theater.
[7]. Molly Wright Steenson, Architectural Intelligences (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017), 16
Submission in Clog X Artificial Intelligence Journal.
Anthropomorphism is described as the tendency to attribute human characteristics, behaviors, and feelings to non-human entities.[1] On a panel discussion, Amy Laviers, a University of Illinois professor researching intelligent robotic movements, explained her concept of the knife method. She stated that if you harbor no stronger connection to a tool than you do to a common butter knife, then there should be no concern for an unsavory relationship with that intelligence.[2] Do we as a society perceive artificial intelligence as a tool or do we instead have an increasingly narcissistic vision for it? Phillip Stearns, a Brooklyn-based artist and designer, argues that technological advancements are the embodiment of the will of a society at large and not the work of an individual genius.[3] Seeing how countless science fiction depictions give AI a human likeness, it’s paramount to reconsider our position on the physical nature (both form and aesthetic) of artificial intelligences.
In Her, Director Spike Jonze takes a cynical stance on human-like artificial intelligences illustrating how people can be manipulated by the superficiality of the AI’s deceptively human voice. The film depicts an AI (Her) displaying a preference-based behavior as she becomes increasingly intimate with the main human character, Ted. Although he is aware their relationship is abnormal, her voice arouses and provokes him to the point he eventually abandons all his personal relationships and pleasures himself to the digital personification.[4] Similarly, in Blade Runner, artificial intelligences are represented as replicants, perfect mimics of human likeness, that contribute to society’s fall into debaucherous human and replicant relationships, segregation, and prejudice.[5] Further, Robot and Frank shows us that even the most simplistic mimicry of human form can spawn a relationship leading to a lawless crime spree.[6]
Each film illustrates how replacing human relationships with that of a human-like AI could potentially lead to severe societal degradation. But, would this social collapse still occur if AI were to command its own manifestation, and if it did, how would it build itself? If its presence is not driven by human likeness, what would be a more feasible stimulus? One possibility is for AI to derive its physical nature from the modular functionality of its data handling. A cohesive human likeness provides minimal value in dealing with the cognitive processing of massive amounts of inputs, instead a highly-adaptable form - a cybernetic - would be more appropriate. Norbert Wiener, an American mathematician and philosopher, defined cybernetic systems as “revolving around the notion of feedback: a set of messages, exchanged without regard to their content, that control a system. A system undertakes an action, receives information about its performance, and corrects its course accordingly.”[7] An AI form that is derived from its inherent functionality and not a superficial likeness could lead to its genuine physical representation. Thus, when people are permitted to see and hear the AI for what it is, the apprehension surrounding it is removed. Once this occurs, a knife will be a knife.
[1]. Duffy, Brian R. "Anthropomorphism and the Social Robot." Robotics and Autonomous Systems42, no. 3-4 (2003): 177-90. doi:10.1016/s0921-8890(02)00374-3.
[2]. University of Illinois Department of Mechanical Science and Engineereing. "Amy Laviers" mechanical.illinois.edu. Accessed June 23, 2018. https://mechanical.illinois.edu/directory/faculty/alaviers
[3]. Phillip Stearns quoted in Furjan, Helene, and Lee Nentwig. Phillip Stearns - The Algorithmic Unconscious. Parallax. February 15, 2018. Accessed April 15, 2018. http://parallaxcollab.com/phillip-stearns.
[4]. Her, Directed by Spike Jonze. Performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson (2013; Burbank, CA; Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013), Online Stream.
[5]. Blade Runner, Directed by Ridley Scott. (1982; Burbank, CA; Warner Bros. Pictures, 1982), Online Stream.
[6]. Robot and Frank, Directed by Jake Schreier. (2012; Culver City, CA; Stage 6 Films, 2012), Theater.
[7]. Molly Wright Steenson, Architectural Intelligences (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017), 16
