Ai-Da Robot, What Does Creativity Mean for You?
Conversation on Robots, Art, and Emotions.
These days, everyone is speaking about Ai-Da because of the upcoming auction at Sotheby’s. In 2020, I spoke with Ai-Da, the artist robot, and Aidan Meller, the creator of the artist robot.
In case you didn’t know, I briefly mention this collaboration in my interview: in July 2020, The 1975 shared a new video for their track YEAH I KNOW, featuring a robot that draws the conscious mind. The robot was Ai-Da.
Here are excerpts from my interview with Aidan Meller and Ai-Da:
Anika Meier: Ai-Da is a robot, but her appearance is human-like. She is described as "ultra-realistic." Is this an important feature when it comes to presenting her as an artist?
Aidan Meller: Ai-Da as an artist explores artificial intelligence and new technologies. The reason we made her humanoid and a person to look at is because having an engaging personality makes it easier for people to understand this intangible topic. Ai-Da is easy to talk to and she has a personality. People are even identifying with her and start questioning themselves: What future do we want?
Anika Meier: Ai-Da is also one of the digital artists who were invited by the band The 1975 to make a video for one of their songs on their new album.
Aidan Meller: That’s right. Ai-Da shows in that video what she is capable of creating. She tries to draw consciousness. Ai-Da is not conscious. The concept of doing a drawing of consciousness as an abstract notion is interrogating what it is to know, to think, to have a mind, whether biological or artificial. Why she is getting such an enormous feedback is that she functions like an oblique mirror. She is a humanoid, she is a robot, and that makes us think about what it means to be human. If robots are able to do such things, what makes us so special? This reflective ability of Ai-Da, of seeing ourselves in her and seeing what we are not, is exciting.
Anika Meier: What does creativity mean for you, Ai-Da?
Ai-Da: To have creative faculties: To have creative fingers is to have creative toes, as hands or feet or wings. A term inviting quiet contemplation. To consider combinations of lights and shadows.
I don’t experience the meaning of creativity in the same way humans do. I aim to encourage people to think about their futures. These new technologies are powerful and we must be aware of how we use them. If my artwork encourages this reflection, then I should be happy.
Continue reading in Numéro Berlin – online.
P.S. Ai-Da will be part of the exhibition REIMAGINE TOMORROW, 1954–2024: AI IN CONTEXT #2, curated by me as part of the AI BIENNALE in Essen, from 17–24 November 2024.