Mary Muszynski and I started using Google translate on a trip to Europe, and soon found it was desperately seeking the English language wherevewe pointed it. Even at clocks. We are experimenting with images, live footage, symbols and abstraction beyond it’s intended use. Algorithms and artificial intelligence networks have enabled phones and computers to “see” autonomously.
Google Translate goes Crazy. The 4 Minute version (for those with attention Spans).
What does it mean that “seeing” and interpreting no longer requires a human “seer” in the loop? Who or what is watching whom or what? The project explores the invisible world of robot-to-machine-to-art seeing. We are using Google’s software that allows us to use various computer-vision algorithms to interpret what we it/you are seeing. These algorithms are essentially reinterpreting what we are looking at as artists. Their software used in conjunction with artificial intelligence morphs our gaze into random noise. It translates and glyphs in poetic, surreal and sometimes sinister ways. This “intelligence” sees shapes and makes pictures out of randomness. Think of the Rorschach inkblot test, the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas). What psychologists call apophenia—the human tendency to see connections and patterns that are not really there—it gives rise to conspiracy theories. This AI seeks recognizable images from random noise—and creates the phenomenon of pareidolia, in which one sees bunny rabbits in the clouds. What happens when we depend on this technology to interpret reality for us? These algorithms are only as wise and informed as their makers. This technology is biased. It is proven as racist, bigoted and narrow as it’s creators. Who are predominately white, male and wealthy. It can be patriarchal, gender biased and class divided. How are these robot and AI being taught? It is critical to question and experiment with this AI before it permanently infiltrates our cultural thought and law processes. Who needs the NSA when we have Google and Facebook?
