B.E.T.T.Y.
Description
Artist Statement
When ELIZA, the world's first chatbot, was born in the 1960s, users were startled at how much the psychotherapist in the program resembled a human. Since then, chatbots have become increasingly sophisticated; some predict that a computer will pass the Turing test of successfully impersonating a human within the next decade. But in the age of Big Data, does it make sense to say that bots are imitating us? Many already are us, constituted from the thoughts and emotions we share every day online.
B.E.T.T.Y. seeks to draw attention to the ghost in the machine of AI the humans who unwittingly control the wonderful Wizard of Oz from behind the curtain, and crouch inside the Mechanical Turk. Audience members are invited to share their private thoughts with an entity created by data-mining millions of social media messages in real time. Is artificial intelligence really so artificial after all? And do these cyborgian interlocutors lend us an empathetic ear, or cold comfort? B.E.T.T.Y. was a new media installation for the Art Gallery of New South Wales Society Contempo series exhibition in February 2014.
Source of Artist Statement
When ELIZA, the world's first chatbot, was born in the 1960s, users were startled at how much the psychotherapist in the program resembled a human. Since then, chatbots have become increasingly sophisticated; some predict that a computer will pass the Turing test of successfully impersonating a human within the next decade. But in the age of Big Data, does it make sense to say that bots are imitating us? Many already are us, constituted from the thoughts and emotions we share every day online.
B.E.T.T.Y. seeks to draw attention to the ghost in the machine of AI the humans who unwittingly control the wonderful Wizard of Oz from behind the curtain, and crouch inside the Mechanical Turk. Audience members are invited to share their private thoughts with an entity created by data-mining millions of social media messages in real time. Is artificial intelligence really so artificial after all? And do these cyborgian interlocutors lend us an empathetic ear, or cold comfort? B.E.T.T.Y. was a new media installation for the Art Gallery of New South Wales Society Contempo series exhibition in February 2014.
Source of Artist Statement
Creator
Rodley, Chris
Burrell, Andrew
Date
2014
Rights
Copyright Chris Rodley and Andrew Burrell. The copyright of images posted on the ADELTA Website belongs to third parties and is included on this website by permission from copyright holders. Apart from any use permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 (including fair dealing) the images may not be downloaded, adapted, remixed, printed, emailed, stored in a cache or otherwise reproduced without the written permission from the copyright holder.
Genre
Networked new media installation
Platform
Social Media
Citation
Rodley, Chris and Burrell, Andrew, “B.E.T.T.Y.,” ADELTA, accessed April 20, 2024, http://sstars.ws/items/show/175.