Medium: GPT2, Tacotron2, face classification, RPi, NVIDIA 2080Ti, metallic recliner, metallic headcover, inkjet printed fabrics, camera, LEDs, speakers, WiFi router, Ethernet/Power Cables
In 2019, before the GPT revolution reshaped the world’s perception of AI, I created “I am {Emotion}”, an installation built on GPT-2, a state-of-the-art language model at the time. This multisensory work explores the present and future of machine learning, inviting the audience to lie on a sun lounger and receive an endless stream of machine-generated psychological advice and stories.
The advice is generated in real-time and it is seeded with the emotion extracted from the participant’s face. The sun lounger is decorated with Memento Mori prints and crowned by a black metallic structure, containing part of the artificial brain. With speakers on each side along with a hypnotizing light, the technology is working in unison to put the subject in an altered state of consciousness.
When someone lies in the recliner, an emotion classification algorithm analyses their face and generates a sentence describing the person’s psychological state. This sentence is subsequently used as the seed that generates the content. The generated advice is then fed to the recliner and vocalized through the speakers. Every couple of minutes new text is generated, resulting in endless continuous advice that is unique and never repeated to anyone else, other than the person lying on the lounger.
In a world where AGI machines may soon be a reality, this artwork asks: will the optimisation agents of the future truly understand the human psyche?
The Prints
Three distinct designs on the upholstery celebrate life through a kitschy, illustrative lens, echoing Vanitas and Memento Mori traditions. Beneath their vibrant, lush surface lies deeper symbolism.
One print showcases beautiful flowers, succulent fruits, and pristine tropical leaves interspersed with flies—a juxtaposition of life and decay.
Another features a monkey eating from a fruit display opposite a hominid skull, symbolising our origins and the fragility of existence. These elements ask the viewer to question life itself within the broader narrative of the artwork.
While the vivid colours and lively patterns captivate at first glance, a closer look reveals themes of mortality and impermanence.
The Technology
The inviting loungers are crowned by a heavy black metallic structure—symbolising the machine. Equipped with speakers, hypnotising lights, and a camera that sits uncomfortably close, the structure embodies the tension between human and machine.
There are three machine learning algorithms running in the machine
- GPT2 a state of the art text generator, fine-tuned on an extensive corpus of psychology literature to generate contextually relevant advice.
- Tacotron2 which is an algorithm that vocalizes text.
- A real-time face detection and emotion/gender classification algorithm
When a participant sits in the recliner, a proximity sensor activates the camera, capturing their face. The image is processed, and the extracted emotion populates the seed, e.g., “I am {happy}.” The system then generates, vocalises, and plays the text through speakers. This process repeats every few minutes, creating a continuous, unique experience.
The Human
The installation is incomplete without its human element. Participants lie sandwiched between nature below and the machine above. As their emotion feeds the algorithm, their unique state influences the experience, making it deeply personal.
This symbiosis of human emotion, machine intelligence, and artistic exploration underscores the installation’s goal: to reimagine how technology can interpret and interact with the human condition.