Den skapande roboten : En fallstudie på den antropomorfa skapande roboten Ai-Da

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates the increased role and presence of artificial intelligence in traditional art environments using the Ai-Da-project as a case study. Ai-Da is an anthropomorphic ‘creating robot’ and is presented as “the world’s first ultra-realistic artist robot”. Through a bionic hand and cameras with facial recognitions technology embedded in its eyes, Ai-Da is able to visually scan the subjects and map the coordinates onto paper. Working in a variety of media, Ai-Da can create drawings, sculptures, and paintings. Ai-Da’s primary purpose as an ethical arts project is to provoke debate about the consequences of artificial intelligence and the future relationship between humans and machines, especially in the cultural sphere. This case study examines how artist identity, anthropomorphism, the creating process, creativity, and artworks have been conceptualized and mediated by the project’s creators, as well as how the different aspects relate to a broader perspective on artificial intelligence and robotics within an art-related context. The study shows that there are some inconsistencies between what is communicated by Meller’s team, and what is actually presented, which results in several misconceptions about Ai-Da’s abilities and creativity. Lastly, the physical artefacts created by Ai-Da were analyzed using Heinrich Wölfflin’s formal analysis and five pairs of opposing descriptors. In the final chapter, all themes were discussed further and then summarized.