Instructions for Robots delves into the uncharted near-future of artificial emotional intelligence, interlacing the captivating intensity of nostalgia with the cold, confronting precision of AI. As a researcher working to understand intelligent interaction at the intersection of human and machine intelligence, I find Hoolboom's presentation of a future society sparkled with emotionally-equipped robots fascinating, unsettling, and promising, and honest in reflecting our collective anxiety and hopes for AI.

Hoolboom employs cinematic memory as a powerful form of narrative; it’s fragmentary, yet emotive as it crafts a coming era teeming with emotional AI and confronts viewers to empathize with the perspective of the mechanical narrator. The inconsistency of these memories underscores the volatile nature of human remembrance transposed onto digital memories.

Finally, the piece explores hidden codes, invisible yet subliminally transformative. Whether we comprehend them or not, these encoded messages shape our perceptions about the relationship between humans and machines and between our current and past–or future–selves. Perhaps they point us towards an understated emerging co-existence?

Whatever the transformation might be, it underlines that our engagements with AI should be thoughtful, explorative, and ethically informed. What should we wish for? A symbiotic alliance where we thrive by learning with and alongside these systems rather than compelling them into mimicking flawed human behaviors or restricting them within constraints of control.

 

Dr. Kory Mathewson
Research Scientist and PhD in Artificial Intelligences