Research Paper Journey #5

Robots Do Not Think? –

After speaking with my supervisor Janet Waring Rago, I decided to contact the makers of Ameca (Engineered Arts), currently one of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots. I was hoping to gain some insight as to whether Ameca the robot could have an ‘opinion’ or at least produce some commentary on the work of another robot. I felt that this would be an interesting interaction to observe. It could possibly give some insight into whether or not preference featured in a robots repertoire. Unfortunately, from the outset I made the mistake of using the words ‘think’ and ‘thinking’. As a result although I did gain some interesting insights, plus a piece of primary research, the resulting silence from my contact at Engineered Arts made it clear – robots do not ‘think’. Sadly I already knew this, but I had not phrased or articulated my email particularly well.

Below is the actual short email exchange with Engineered Arts.

Email Exchange with Will Jackson – Engineered Arts

Hi
My name is Karyn Easton and I’m currently studying for an MA in Fine Art Digital at Central Saint Martins University. I need to produce a research paper for my course. I am particularly interested in Ai and robotically generated art and I would like to investigate this further. As part of my research, I would be keen to learn what Ameca thinks about a number of art related topics/artworks and how this might influence Ameca’s behaviour or thinking.

Would this be something that you could help me with? I know that you are probably very busy, but I am hoping that my research might give some insight into Ai/robotic generated art and a robot’s decision making process.

Please contact me if you would like to know more about my project. I am actually based in South Devon and I’m more than happy to travel to Falmouth to discuss this if that would help?

My contact details are as follows:

Karyn Easton

The Reply:

HI Karyn, Thanks for your interest in Engineered Arts and our robotic creations.

A few things to be aware of.

Robots and indeed any form of existing AI do not ‘think’

They have no real understanding of the world at all.

It often appears that they do, however this is an illusion.

We tend to think that if a machine answers a question in a human like way that its ‘thought process’ was same as ours. It is not.

Language models are able to build replies based on the relationships between words and phrases, for examples ‘paintings, sculpture, music and dance are artforms’

This is like a person who’s only experience of the world is text, they have never been wet after a swim, cold in the snow or burnt by a flame, but they know an arrangement of letters that relate to those concepts.

That said, you can ask Ameca some questions and you will get some plausible sounding answers.

It is not thought in the human sense.

Robot art is information processing devoid of emotion, in fact 90% of it is the product of human curation.

In some cases like the woeful Ai-Da it is a complete sham, created as nothing more than a marketing exercise.

I hope this helps with your research

Best wishes

Will

My Response:

Hi Will,

Thank you so much for your speedy response. I understand what you are saying regarding thought processes. However, would it be possible for me to send in some questions for Ameca?

I would be interested to know if Ameca could distinguish between examples of human art and ai generated art. For example could Ameca tell whether or not something was human generated art as opposed to Ai art generated?

I’ve other questions too that I would like to pose, for example would Ameca be capable of critiquing a piece of art? For my research it doesn’t really matter that Ameca has no real thinking skills, I would still be keen to know what Ameca’s response would be to any given artwork. I would like to have a robot’s response to art as opposed to a human response.

I suppose what I’m trying to do is gain an insight into a robot’s response to an art stimulus as opposed to a human response. It would be interesting to see how robotic and human responses differed if at all.

Would you be able to help?

Kind regards,

Karyn

Will’s Response:

Still Waiting

Where Next?

Engineered Arts is only the first of many humanoid robotic manufacturers that could be contacted. For this reason I think that it is important not to give up at this stage. What I think is important is that I ensure the correct wording of any subsequent emails, keep my message clear and concise and exclude the words ‘thinking’, ‘thoughts’ and feelings. This is because as we already know, robots can not think.

My Next Move

I was unsure how to actually word an engaging email so I decided to enlist the help of ChatGPT. I fed in my original research proposal and asked for an engaging email/letter in response. Below is the response, which I edited only very slightly to suit my needs.

ChatGPT Produced email to the makers of AI-DA the humanoid robot that creates art and Also Hanson Robotics the Makers of the humanoid robot Sophia

Dear Aidan,

I hope you’re well. I’m reaching out to propose a collaboration that I believe aligns with your expertise and could spark interesting discussions. My name is Karyn Easton, I’m an MA art student currently studying ‘Fine Art Digital’ at Central Saint Martins in London. I’m particularly interested in AI-generated art’s impact on human perception.

Your work with Ai Da, the humanoid robot artist, has intrigued me. I’m curious about the connection between AI art and empathy, particularly when compared to algorithmic text-to-image methods of art generation. One of my research questions is can humanoid robots, like Ai Da, evoke empathy and lessen the known biases people might have against AI-created art?

I’d like to invite you to join me in this exploration. Your perspective as the creator of a humanoid artist would be invaluable to me and my work. Our collaboration could provide insights into emotional engagement, authenticity, and ethical considerations tied to AI art.

If you’re interested, I’d appreciate your thoughts or questions on this proposal. I’m happy to provide my full MA initial research proposal if this would help? Your expertise could lead to meaningful insights for my research and help me to dive into the intersection of technology, art, and human connection.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards,

Karyn Easton

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