AICCA can stop in front of the painting or sculpture of its choice to better admire it... but also to analyse it
A.I.C.C.A, or Artificially Intelligent Critical Canine, is a creation by German artist Mario Klingemann. Image: Courtesy of Mario Klingemann©
Many museums use robots to offer their visitors a more immersive and interactive experience. While some choose humanoids based on artificial intelligence, Madrid's Colección SOLO has opted for a robot dog.
This robot dog is called A.I.C.C.A, or Artificially Intelligent Critical Canine. It takes the form of a plush terrier with one eye replaced by a camera. Its inventor, the German artist Mario Klingemann, has mounted it on a kind of electric skateboard to enable it to explore the rooms of the Colección SOLO like any other visitor.
And just like them, A.I.C.C.A. can choose to stop in front of the painting or sculpture of its choice to better admire it... but also to analyze it. That's what makes this robot dog so unique. Complex algorithms, including ChatGPT, enable it to write critiques of the works that catch its eye. It then prints these on thin sheets of paper, which emerge from its hindquarters—a bold choice that makes it look like A.I.C.CA is pooping them out.
But these excretions aren't destined to be poop scooped. According to Beaux Arts magazine, which attended the official presentation of A.I.C.C.A. on June 7, the robot dog's art reviews really aren't as dumb as you might expect. The Spanish street artist Grip Face was even surprised by what the canine had to say about his painting "I am a victim of social labels" (2022). A technical feat that owes much to the tens of thousands of pieces of knowledge that A.I.C.C.A. has acquired through machine learning, making it a very well-trained pooch.
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