Would you let a robot wash you? This question was posed by artist group Blast Theory while investigating the ethics of artificial intelligence in care systems. The Brighton-based collective is showing in “A.I.: Who’s Looking After Meat Science Gallery London , which brings doctors, patients, artists and scientists together to explore key issues surrounding A.I. and care.
The gallery, connected with King’s College London, combines diverse knowledge bases. “We need to bring different perspectives together to grapple with increasingly knotty societal problems,” said Khajuria. “The projects that feel messy in the best sense are collaborations between patient groups, medical engineers, and artists. When you encounter them, it will be tricky to know whose imagination has led or shaped it.
Artist Mimi Ọnụọha delves behind the scenes of A.I., focusing on the human workforce that enables it to run. While the end user may see A.I. as independent from humans, many systems require vast amounts of manual tagging. Ọnụọha’sinvestigates the working spaces of the crowdsourced labour force, which largely operates remotely from bedrooms, front rooms and cafes in the Global South.
Of all animals, cats added an interesting dimension because of their standoffish nature. “Cats are famously imperious, opinionated and not biddable,” Adams said. “There was something interesting about a cat out of all animals that we have a close relationship with. They aren’t going to just be gulled into accepting something.”