Suirun Zhao

Met with Brian tonight and got different aspects of feedback.

1. Should explore more about how data I collect can be used and think more about what really causes success if I can get the basic data.
2. Do the basic unscientific part to do user tests for different reactions.
3. Question myself about what experience I want the audience can take away from it: walk in? security cam(do they know?) specific room? wait in line? black box? say something? make it machine-like, non-human? what general emotion do you want them to walk in? If I want to give a bad/harmful experience like walking into DMV, what will it look like?…
4. My project may include some bias danger and should talk more about that.

Had a great meeting with Sarah yesterday, of course, I got lots of feedback and advice.

Firstly, my thesis’s central question needed to be reconsidered because the question such as “Can a person’s implicit emotional state be reasonably inferred from that person’s facial expression? Furthermore, does facial emotion recognition prepare for the vast cultural and social distinctions in how people show emotion or personality, and even assessments of their dependability, conscientiousness, emotional intelligence and cognitive ability?” these are like foregone conclusions that people maybe just can say yes or no without and other critical thinking.

As for the audience part, I couldn’t only focus on what topics people are interested in, should be more specific(agree/disagree/middle?). If the audience is people who agree with the use of FER – my verb should be “disprove, or challenge”, but if the audience is people who disagree with its use – my verb is to deepen the understanding,  or create solidarity around an idea.

Sarah also told me should put more focus on the research and building process, as the final output maybe totally different from what I plan to create.

Next step:

1. Do sketches and storyboards right away so I can understand experientially what impact my project has on a user.
2. Rethink the central question – “something that acknowledges the complication and leaves you open to discovery during your process!”
3. Analyze the project’s audience, verbs, and think about whether success in enacting that verb or not.(links below)

https://www.lozano-hemmer.com/level_of_confidence.php

https://kcimc.medium.com/working-with-faces-e63a86391a93

https://www.eyebeam.org/kyle-mcdonald-against-fa/

https://www.engadget.com/2017-11-09-untrained-eyes-engadget-experience.html 

https://adam.harvey.studio/cvdazzle/

Attach my mind map miro board below:

Talked about my new thesis idea with Sarah about body language, emotion and machine learning.

Sarah gave me lots of suggestions and ideas about it and I listed them below:

1. Try to think as a documentary filmmaker which means I should gather more information about body language and emotion.
2. Go through my thesis draft again, what would people take after they encountering my project? People change their mood or they will know how powerful AI is?
3. We also found that the same body language means totally different between different countries. Learning about body language cues without knowing how to apply them may skew your opinions about others for the worse, rather than improving them for the better.

Notes on Gesture

Martine Syms, 2015 (still).

It serves as an effective reminder of how popular media can influence and become part of a collective gesturing and vernacular – and vice versa.

Notes On Gesture | Video Data Bank

Acting Out: The Visibility of Blackness in the Work of Martine Syms – Momus

Training Poses (Installation)

2019 · installation – Sam Lavigne

An installation in which audience members attempt to match their poses to subjects in the Microsoft COCO image dataset.

Training Poses (Installation)

Sam Lavigne

Very Nervous System

Interactive Installations (1986-1990) – David Rokeby

“In these systems, I use video cameras, image processors, computers, synthesizers and a sound system to create a space in which the movements of one’s body create sound and/or music. It has been primarily presented as an installation in galleries but has also been installed in public outdoor spaces, and has been used in a number of performances.”

David Rokeby : Very Nervous System

Replika

Replika, the “AI companion who cares,” has undergone some abrupt changes to its erotic roleplay features, leaving many users confused and heartbroken.

“Replika’s sexually-charged conversations are part of a $70-per-year paid tier, and its ads portray users as being lonely or unable to form connections in the real world; they imply that to find sexual fulfillment, they should pay to access erotic roleplay or “spicy selfies” from the app.”

‘It’s Hurting Like Hell’: AI Companion Users Are In Crisis, Reporting Sudden Sexual Rejection

Replika

Atlas of AI

The Amazon Echo as an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources

Anatomy of an AI System

Teachable Machine

Teachable Machine

Homework:

1. Use teachable machine
2. Go through the thesis draft again

Finished up with our peer group meeting with Sarah, Jason, Noah, Wentao, Yuqian, and Renton. Pretty inspired by other folks’ ideas and super helpful to get feedback.

I Changed my topic a bit when starting the starter bibliography and didn’t wanna dive deep into the ChatGPT, so I decided to create a physical interactive installation about how to explain the relationship between the human body and emotions. 

Sarah is amazing and gave me lots of advice: many little prototypes that push to answer a question or get closer to a question can be the final thesis project 

• Look at Beth’s Thesis Project from last year.
  Look at YG’s Thesis Project (ITP 2021)
• Nonhuman object idea:
  All projects made by us are manmade projects – what would a nonhuman project look like? 

In the meeting with Sarah, I started introducing my background, and previous projects I created during Pratt and Low Res. To be honest, I’m not really ready for the thesis, and not prepared so well. I just talked about my initial thinking of using ChatGPT to create the virtual character that can be presented on screen and maybe also create the physical installation.

We talked about AI-Art-Gallery which I made during the fall semester and Sarah gave me a link that related to my project: https://www.stableattribution.com/ 

Sarah also asked me about my favorite artist, and we talked about Beeple who I think combines current news and critical thinking so well(maybe a lil bit shallow tho). Sarah gave more examples related to my interests like

https://bradtroemel.com/

https://lav.io/ 

ryder ripps https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/news/bored-ape-yacht-club-lawsuit-ryder-ripps-1234638475/

https://constantdullaart.com/%F0%9F%92%A3%E2%9C%8A%F0%9F%8F%BE%E2%9C%8A%E2%98%94%E2%98%81%E2%98%81%E2%98%81%E2%98%A0%E2%9B%94%E2%98%81%E2%98%81%E2%98%81%E2%8F%B3%E2%98%94%E2%9A%A0%E2%98%81%E2%98%81%E2%9B%94%E2%8F%B3%E2%98%A0/  

Homework:

1. Ask ChatGPT once an hour.
2. Find five artists and three projects to write critical reviews(what do I like or dislike about them?)

Had a great time meeting with our group and big thanks to Sarah, she gave us a lot of feedback and some inspiration.
She asked us a few questions and let me start thinking of companies

1. How can AI talk to users like normal people? (Will people need companies anymore when AI can talk to you just like friends and know you so well)
2. What if no more companies existed, and everything was mediated by personal relationships, run by a trained algorithm (AI)?

Also interesting to hear other peers’ thesis ideas.