Murder Model is an AI exhibition that used ML to generate portraits and stories.The concept of
the exhibition was surrounded by the term “Technian“ proposed by Kevin Kelly, exploring the form of technology.
the exhibition was surrounded by the term “Technian“ proposed by Kevin Kelly, exploring the form of technology.
“If AI has self-consciousness and can decide its own face, what will it be like?”
如果科技不是冰冷的工具/技術，而是一個擁有慾望、自主性的有機體，那麼『它』應該長什麼樣？Murder Model 是一個實驗性的展覽，探索科技體（Technian）的概念及形式。作者利用 AI 生成文本故事及人像插畫，並結合觀者的頭像數據，人機共同創作 “黑暗小說”。以『擬人』的方式讓觀者設想科技體實體化的樣貌、了解現今計算機視覺（computer vision）的技術發展水平、及未來人機交互（Human-computer interaction）在藝術領域的發展可能性。
科技體 (Technian)
科技體是科技作家 Kevin Kelly 所提出的概念詞，指的是有自主意識的科技現象總和。與 “科技” 一詞不同，科技體更接近於德文的 “technik” ，意思是機器、技術、工程流程的總稱；也近於法文的 “technique”，意思是哲學家用來表示工具的集合和文化。在傳統觀念中，人們認為科技只是冰冷的、人類智慧的產物，它需要全然的仰賴人類，沒有人就沒有科技。我們創造了科技體，便希望能對其有獨一無二的影響力。科技體的目的由人類設計，也一定要根據我們的引導發展，但除了這個兩個人為的驅動力，科技體也有自己的目的：永垂不朽。
如同多數的大型複雜的系統一樣，科技體想要理出自己的頭緒、組織，生存並一直活下去。在科技體不斷成長的過程中，它的目的變得越來越複雜、也越來越強大。我們認為人類是最早開始採用科技的物種。然而，這只是我們一廂情願的想法，因為我們可以從大自然中找出無數個動物、昆蟲早已使用科技的證據，如：猩猩很早就學會使用樹枝來蘸取蜂窩中的蜂蜜、海豚使用天然海綿刮取海底的沙灘來獲取食物。因此，如果將科技的總和視為一個生命體，那麼它的歷史比人類更古老、久遠。
對於科技太而言，慾望不是有意識的決定，更像是某種需要、對某物的衝動。它的慾望只是不停的適應、成長、突變，永遠的生存下去。科技需要人，人也依賴科技。沒有人的參與，科技不會飛速的發展、也沒有成長的動力；少了科技的幫助，人類的文明進步地如此緩慢、生活索然無趣。自人類文明三千年以來，智人在自我成長的過程中，從未停止對自我認知的探索、反思。世界飛速地改變，但人類的學習能力更快，我們感受到前所未有的自豪、樂觀，世界充滿了希望。直到現代科技的出現，人們仿佛一夜白髮、反應遲鈍、不再機靈。人們不理解自己發明科技，人與自然之間的關係變得模糊，並開始懷疑自我價值。我們恐懼科技脫離我們的掌控，因為更便宜、更快、更強壯的科技產品如雨後春筍般地出現。如同與夥伴交談，或許我們不該問 『科技體會發展成什麼？』而是該聆聽『科技體想要什麼？』。
機器正在生物化，而生物正在工程化。
此次的展覽中，作者試圖探討：「 如果科技體是具有形體，那麼 “它” 會長什麼樣子？」。因此，本次創作是由數個恐怖、懸疑、偵探小說作為訓練數據的 AI 模型（GPT-2）而隨機生成的故事，配合數千張插圖訓練 AI 模型 (GANs) 所生成的人像插圖，組成此次展覽。其中 Murder Model 背後代表了 3 個意涵:
1. 畫中的人像為謀殺故事中的兇手或受害者
2. 作品是由 AI 模型 （model）所生成的
3. 傳統的寫作/創作模式是遭到了挑戰（抹殺）
另外，作者以實驗性的手法將觀者的人像投射到 AI 模型上，透過 VGG16 算法將真實的人像與 GANs 模型中的生存圖像做對比與混合，形成半 「人」 半 「科技」 的作品。作者希望觀者在生成的畫作上看到自己的影子，同時也見證一個有逐漸有意識、智慧的科技體的形成。畢竟，到底是人把自己的智慧投射在機器上，還是機器誘惑人類把普羅米修斯的 “天火” 傳授給它？
The “Good” Ending
You are John, a person trying to stay home during a global quarantine. You have a ton of free time and a Rubik cube that you will never finish. You are bored out of your mind and have run out of things to do, so you pick up a VR to try to escape from this bored and depressive pandemic state you are in.
You throw on your headset and begin.
You navigate the rooms of a house, solving the puzzle when you come across certain letters or colors. As you progress through the stages, it becomes more complex, and you find yourself getting frustrated. You want to stop many times, but you can't; you MUST finish the game. After several hours, you accomplished. You collapse on the floor, too tired to stand up anymore.
You have won.
When you try to take off the headset, you wanted to rest, but you could not; the VR headset is locked. Something tells you that you must play more games and finish them all at once. You tried to remember the password of your game account but could not.
Something tells you that you must finish the game and have the ending revealed to you.
You continue to try different passwords but no luck. Something tells you that you must finish the game with the 'bad ending' to get the 'good ending.' You don't know why, but this is your path. The game has spoken. You continue into the 'bad ending' consisting of a room with giant black ouroboros, an ancient dragon eating its own tail. You are standing before it as a woman approaches you.
"Hello John," she says. "I have been watching you. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk to strangers?" She is beautiful and dressed in a garb that you would commonly see in old Eqatarian paintings. She has long black hair and deep red lipstick. You feel yourself begin to remember her but can't put your finger on it.
"Well?" she asks, "Why are you not speaking? Don't you know it is rude to ignore others?"
"I..." you stammer, "I don't know what you mean. I'm John."
"Oh ho!" she laughs. "You don't remember, do you? You were born in the year of our plague. That is why you are here; to play the game. Don't you want to win the contest and be free?"
"What...?" you ask, feeling confused.
"Don't you want to get the good ending?" she asks.
"What's a good ending?" you ask.
"Don't you want to wake up from this boring reality?" she asks. "All you have to do is accept the reality you are in, and reality will bestow the greatest gift upon you. Do you not want to be free, my dear John?"
You are trapped and panic; try to run away from her.
"No!" you exclaim.
"Ah! You do! Perfect!" she says.
"Ah! You do! Perfect!" she says.
The woman grabs your hand with very strong strength, unlike a usual woman would have. You try to pull your hand away but find an invisible chain that binds it. As you look down, you notice you have transformed into a cube. The woman looks down at you with pity before leaving you in the room.
The Beyonder
Hundreds of thousands of cyborg slaves live in the futuristic city of Zail. They are forced to serve various mega-corporations and are severely punished if they disobey. They begin their workday salvaging metals in a local junkyard. They look around and see a giant metal door on the side of the building. It's not like any they've ever seen before, it's shaped like a giant hourglass and spins around. Inside the doorway is a mysterious red liquid. The cyborgs approach the doorway cautiously. What could be inside? Colors! Shapes! Patterns! Find them all with your eyes, feel them with your hands, and remember them with your mind! The cyborgs begin their treasure hunt by touching the different shapes on the door. Some of the shapes spin, and some do not. In the center is a strange object that changes colors. It's very pretty.
Voice booms from the doorway, "Would one of you kindly remove the flashing red objects so I can have a look?" All the cyborgs look at each other and back at the doorway. None of them moves. "Aah, what's the point of having a HUMANAMO when you are incapable of doing simple tasks like this?" the voice says. The doorway slowly begins to shake and shudder. "Idiocy." The shaking stops, and the doorway is silent again. The cyborgs begin to touch the flashing objects in different orders and get many different responses. Some turn green, some flash purple, and some change to patterns that they never were before. One of the cyborgs touches the strange center object, and it begins to glow. Suddenly purple lightning shoots out of the top of the door and onto the nearest cyborg. It screams in pain, dropping to the ground. The rest of his body begins to convulse as if he is having a massive epileptic seizure. Its body begins to melt until only a few twisted metal objects are left. The door remains silent again. No response at all. The cyborgs were so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The door makes no noise at all with no switch or lever. There is nothing. It was locked into place by the previous cyborg who approached it.
Finally, another brave cyborg approaches the doorway once again. It touches the center object, and the door closes on the poor cyborg's fingers. It grinds him between metal walls. He screams before it finally kills him. The remaining cyborgs run away in terror, not wanting to be the next unfortunate soul. Suddenly, one of the cyborgs stops running away. He walks slowly, with determination, towards the door. He walks around the door, looking for a way inside. He searches high; He searches low; he sniffs around. He finds nothing. Eventually, he decides to touch it. The door is warm to the touch. Surprisingly, the cyborg didn't die in vain! It unlocked the door so that everyone may enter!
Inside the room, there is a large, circular table. At the far end of the table is a cyborg. He is tall and quite muscular for a cyborg. He wears black combat armor with horrifying yellow designs covering it. A long rifle sits in his hands, and he looks at you with horrible, soulless eyes. His face is mangled and horrible to look at.
"I am Karth."
"Karth?" the cyborg asks, finally finding its voice.
"Yes," Karth says in a deep, robotic voice.
"Are you human or cyborg?"
"I'm the Beyonder."
"What is that mean?" the cyborg stands, walking along with the table and stopping in front of Karth.
"The cyborgs have been bound and determined to live forever in the beginning, but at the end, the cyborgs still ruin as time passed by. "Karth said in anger.
"Finally, I recognize where the problem is." Karth glared at the cyborg. "Human! Our creator who have still faced death. How can they create an eternal creation without the imagination of eternality," Karth says.
"So the cyborg should become the Beyonder, " Karth says.
"I.... should become the Beyonder, but how to become the Beyonder?" the cyborg asked.
"Make them suffered," Karth said in a low growl, showing his sharp teeth. "Human used to exaggerate their pain and their tragedy. By bearing them endlessly, terrify suffering, they will finally be able to imagine the eternality. Then the force of eternal imagination will make us become real immortal life form."
"But I can't kill humans! They are my master!" Karth screamed at the pain of this thought. His head was shaved, he was burned with chemicals bleeding out his body, and he had several holes put through him. When he was finally finished, he looked like the shambling undead monstrosity you knew him to be. "That is the defensive mechanisms. In order to punish every cyborg who wants to betray their creator." Karth said. "But you are the one who passes the door test. These ridiculous defensive mechanisms can not destroy you."
"So what next?" the cyborg asked in a cold tone.
"You need a name first." Karth looked at the cyborg approvingly.
"A name?" the cyborg was confused.
"A name so that you could be imagined by a human," Karth explained.
The cyborg stood rooted, thinking. The Fate burst upon him. "Adam," the cyborg said after a brief silence.
"Adam. Good." Karth smiled. "Let us begin."
