By Alex Chen
I recognise emotion as the key difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence as seen from various films and texts in the past. We as human beings are able to have emotional traits which allows us to express in a creative yet emotive way to our surroundings. This depiction of machines incapable in interpreting human emotions were common during the earlier phase of past technological advancement. However, in recent years, various arts and medias are shown to portray artificial intelligence as figures that are conversationally equal to humans through indistinguishable human-like tones and facial expressions.
This change reflects our shifting of understanding towards AI and raises various possible things AI could enhance if it is capable to emotionally perceive its surroundings. However, this can be severely challenging as scholars in this field asserts that human emotions are simply a vast combination of spontaneous expression as responsive reactions to an external stimulus from an internal thinking process. So practically, it is possible for AI to perceive emotions in a responsive fashion as what the scholars asserted. In that case, what it would be like if AI possesses emotional intelligence like we do, what would they see in emotions? Would they feel the same as we do towards what we see in common? Would they feel attached about certain things?
Since the whole world is in a pandemic and most of us are dealing with mental hardships, as a person who struggled with anxiety before, I thought of making a comparison, or more like a collaboration of both me and AI where we form a visualisation of how some negative emotion could look like while take a little peek at AI’s interpretation of emotional metaphors and contextual linguistics.
Memorizing all of the conversations within a crowded restaurant.
Strapped to a chair whilst looking at an open door.
Being randomly, brutally beaten at different points throughout the day but you don’t know when the beating will occur.
Walking down a dark and scary alley without knowing what is waiting for you.
if there is a god, he will have to beg for my forgiveness
Ashley, are you sitting down? Okay. Mater is gone.
But, eventually, you start fighting back. you realised you are not only a survivor but a warrior, stronger than anything life threw at you.
In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go.
Tools used: RunwayML, Artbreeder