Artificial Intelligence or Not?

Dialogue: City, self-proclaimed, “cutting-edge convergence of art and public life” has offered Denver 10 visiting artists to create site-specific works that coincide with the Democratic National Convention currently being held in Denver. Of these works, Lynn Hershmann’s piece Artificial Intelligence is Better than No Intelligence is on display at the Lab in Belmar. Other than its less-than-optimal location on the outskirts of Denver, DiNA, the artificial intelligence has me less than convinced that she was ready for such a high-profile public showing.
Considering that Dialogue: City was put together for the purpose of coinciding with the DNC, the chic and modern looking Lab may have been a good choice for Hershmann’s contemporary piece if it were not located 15 minutes outside of Denver (making it a difficult location for visitors to reach without a car). However, the building does lend to the works supposed modern feel and scientific references. Once entering the Lab, one must climb a stark white flight of stairs to enter the main floor. Viewers walk down a short, darkened corridor before they enter a large, dark, open room with a 3-dimensional projection of a woman’s head and shoulders. The image is of Hershmann’s presidential candidate, DiNA.
DiNA has been twelve years in the making. Dialogue: City has written of DiNA that she is, “charismatic, smart and able to answer any question a visitor might pose to a presidential candidate. Participants can inquire about her stance on the issues, as she is designed with voice recognition software and her ‘brain’ is connected to the internet, enabling her to process her answers immediately and interact in a unique dialogue”. In reality, DiNA does not answer all questions, infact, it could be debated whether DiNA understands all questions directed toward her. Also, DiNA does not interact immediately, sometimes it takes her about 10 seconds to answer, if she answers at all.
Hershmann’s concept of artificial intelligence would appear to be a contemporary medium and a relevant, even futuristic, topic. However, the execution of this medium is the opposite. DiNA looks like a photograph with two-dimensional moving lips, which are not accurate to the words which DiNA attempts to speak. DiNA’s appearance cannot even be compared to a photograph. Her outline is fuzzy and her entire look is unkempt. The aesthetic of DiNA is poor and instead of appearing contemporary, her technology makes her look dated. Considering that Disney’s 1998 animated film “Mulan” was able to mimic the movement of one’s mouth when speaking and compared to the character generation of today, Hershmann’s technology seems old-hat throwing her out of the contemporary realm. It would appear as if Dialogue: City directors Seth Goldberg and Liz Newton asked Hershmann if DiNA was almost finished and decided to go ahead and put the piece on public display. Poor decision.
When I visted DiNA in the Lab, it was clear to me that she was having trouble with her voice recognition feature. She would not answer viewer’s questions and kept repeating over the audience’s voices, “Please speak into the microphone”. When I attempted to address this with Goldberg he curtly informed me that DiNA has an attitude, sometimes she ignores people. He reminded me that DiNA is a presidential candidate and that she will not always answer everyone’s questions. So then…DiNA has been programmed with an attitude. I like that, I can get down with that. However, when Goldberg went to speak with her, DiNA responded as if no one else were in the room. It is so that DiNA has a personality, but her personality is one that has clearly not been refined enough to be a public personality. What Goldberg attempts to pass off as DiNA’s sass, in fact, appears to be malfunctioning software. It is a large stretch to try and disguise DiNA’s digital shortcomings as her programmed attitude. She interacts well with voices with which is familiar, but she has a difficult time being intelligent in front of an audience. I believe it was poor choice on Dialoge: City’s and Hershmann’s part to debut this finicky work of art which is sad to look at and even more pathetic to try to communicate with.

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