More Than Human exhibition

Even as artificial intelligence dominates the news, it still mystifies the average person. Machine learning, big data, neural networks...how does it all fit into the workaday and interior life of humans? 

TeamLAB's What A Loving and Beautiful World

wonder | wander | women went to the AI: More Than Human exhibition at the Barbican to get some answers and came out with even more questions. We learned a little, saw a lot, and left inspired.

The show told a story that began before computers even existed. Charles Babbage's Difference Engine appeared as a stepping stone toward his never-built Analytical Engine.

Letter and sonnet by Ada, Lady Lovelace

Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and a brilliant mathematician and visionary, studied Babbage's work and predicted that humans would build a machine that could do anything with numbers: write music, do art, perform everyday tasks.

Enigma machine

The narrative cycled through the tragic history of Alan Turing, the history of codebreaking which led to modern computing, and the rise of personal computers and the internet. We tried out interactive installations which tried to read our emotions and demonstrated how much we revealed of ourselves online.

Joy Buolamwini's AI, Ain't I A Woman? critiqued race discrimination in facial recognition software. Other installations revealed the advances in 'deep fakes' used to create fake news footage of politicians or celebrities, and other ways AI could fail or be used to harm society.

The most fascinating exhibition was Alter by Ishiguro Lab - a mechanical creature with a human face and arms that responds to movement and stimuli like a child. At the exhibition people gathered around it, curious, excited and a little uneasy - especially when it waved at them, or widened and shut its eyes in what looked like a smile.

Video artist Justine Emard filmed Alter interacting with Japanese dancer and performer Mirai Moriyama in a captivating video called Co(AI)existence.

The exhibition led us downstairs to a large room filled with moving Chinese paintings. TeamLAB's installation What A Loving and Beautiful World used machine learning and motion sensors to interact with visitors.

Touch a character with your shadow and it would add elements to the scene: 花 for flower, 雪 for snow, 鳥 for bird. More people meant a richer, dynamic environment.

Afterward, tired and thirsty from chasing shadows, we went out to the foyer and requested a refreshing drink from MakrShakr's robot bartender!

Exciting and scary, illuminating and impenetrable - like society itself, AI continues to develop at a wild rate. We'd love to see where it goes, and where it will take human existence!