The Emoting City
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The Emoting City Designing feeling and artificial empathy in mediated environments Sayjel Vijay Patel1, Raffi Tchakerian2, Renata Lemos Morais3, Jie Zhang4, Simon Cropper5 1,2,3Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation 4OPT Architects 5University of Mel- bourne 1,2,3{sayjel.patel|raffi.tchakerian|renata.morais}@didi.ae 4jiezhang5@gmail. com [email protected] This paper presents a theoretical blueprint for implementing artificial empathy into the built environment. Transdisciplinary design principles have oriented the creation of a new model for autonomous environments integrating psychology, architecture, digital media, affective computing and interactive UX design. `The Emoting City', an interactive installation presented at the 2019 Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, is presented as a first step to explore how to engage AI-driven sensing by integrating human perception, cognition and behaviour in a real-world scenario. The approach described encompasses two main elements: embedded cyberception and responsive surfaces. Its human-AI interface enables new modes of blended interaction that are conducive to self-empathy and insight. It brings forth a new proposition for the development of sensing systems that go beyond social robotics into the field of artificial empathy. The installation innovates in the design of seamless affective computing that combines `alloplastic' and `autoplastic' architectures. We believe that our research signals the emergence of a potential revolution in responsive environments, offering a glimpse into the possibility of designing intelligent spaces with the ability to sense, inform and respond to human emotional states in ways that promote personal, cultural and social evolution. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Responsive Architecture, Affective Computation, Human-AI Interfaces, Artificial Empathy INTRODUCTION “the shapeless and dynamic acts of life and the Formalist approaches have dominated architecture ephemeral feelings evoked by architecture” (Pal- for the past century, but have been criticized for a lasma, 2015). The introduction of ambient data- geometric rationality which distances the city from generating technologies such as sensors, wearables, D2.T8.S1. THE COGNITIVE CITY (AI) - Volume 2 - eCAADe 38 | 261 and personal robots in mediated environments cre- empathy in environmental design. It also investi- ates the possibility of a new architecture, one with gates the technical implementation of these con- the power to perceive and elicit human emotions in cepts by proposing new architectural elements capa- non-anthropomorphic ways. ble of artificial perception and the ability to express Currently, autonomous technologies are perva- artificial empathy. ‘The Emoting City’ brings to light sive in cities, and have been used extensively to reg- new modes of human-human and human-AI interac- ulate human behavior. From medical wearables and tion that are emerging in the context of autonomous robotic vacuums to digital thermostats, autonomous environments. It brings forth a new proposition for technologies operate in a continuous loop of mon- the development of spaces that go beyond surveil- itoring, analysis, and feedback. Machine Learn- lance systems and anthropomorphic designs coming ing (ML) will soon provide even greater autonomy from social robotics, and that move forward to inno- through adaptive programming. The ability of au- vate in the design of interfaces that are transparent tonomous systems to operate with no human inter- and self-effacing and therefore conducive to seam- vention raises new design challenges and significant less levels of interactivity. ethical concerns. These include unintended or aggra- By connecting emotion sensing software (Mc- vating behavior (Picard 2008) and issues surrounding Duff et al, 2016) with kinetic architecture, ’The Emot- risk and responsibility for that risk; exemplified by the ing City’s interactive model facilitates the design of controversy surrounding driverless vehicles and their new elements in the built environment which re- safety. Furthermore, autonomous systems utilizing spond to the facial expressions of occupants using facial recognition are often designed in a way that ob- motion and colour as semiotic tools for the purposes jectifies, limits and seeks to control human behaviour of personal insight. By perceiving and decoding hu- in a way that contributes to skepticism surrounding man emotions, it is possible to create environments their use (Gates 2011). which facilitate the integration of autonomous tech- nologies in ways that radically expand what is possi- ble within traditional formalist environments. Figure 1 The Emoting City Design Installation. CONTEXT (© Credit Dalila Empathy is defined as the ability to share someone Tondo ) else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation. This definition is generally applied to human-human in- teraction but as we interact with non-human systems more and more the concept of empathy requires some modification to include human-AI interaction. Indeed, the role of human-AI ‘empathy’ in interactive design has never been so important. This modified application of Empathy has its roots in the concept of This paper presents a theoretical blueprint for im- Cybernetics originally formulated by Norbert Wiener plementing artificial empathy into the built environ- (Wiener, 1948), Pask’s (1976) proposal for human- ment. ‘The Emoting City’, an interactive installation machine, teach-learn feedback in ‘Conversation The- presented at the 2019 Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of ory’,and is at the core of embodied interaction (Dour- Urbanism/Architecture (Figure 1) represents an ini- ish 2001) and user-centred design (Black 1998, Wood- tial steps into this emerging field. The installation cock et al. 2018, Wright & McCarthy 2008). explores the possibilities of human-AI mediated self- 262 | eCAADe 38 - D2.T8.S1. THE COGNITIVE CITY (AI) - Volume 2 In the context of affective and aesthetic in- databases of institutions, however individuals have teractive experiences that blend human and artifi- no access to their own information. cial intelligences, our understanding of empathy ac- The potential facial-recognition systems show in quires new connotations. Traditional approaches to the context of artificial empathy has been researched empathy-based design have been focused on human extensively by the futurist Pamela Pavliskac (2018, to human empathy processes that rely on cultural 2019), who has coined the term Design Feeling to re- and symbolic systems of emotion expression, per- fer to the new possibilities brought about by emo- ception and interpretation. Empathy among human tional artificial intelligence (McStay 2018). The term actors is derived from audiovisual cues such as dia- recognizes the increasingly interdependent nature of logue and expression, and depends upon a subjec- how technology affects human emotions and how tive interpretation that relies on a particular individ- emotion-detection informs the design of new affec- ual’s ability to decode subtle signs of emotion such as tive technologies. tone of voice and facial expressions. Design Feeling reinforces the vision for a trans- Human-human interactions that are empathic disciplinary architecture that facilitates new experi- generate affective diversity and give origin to emo- ences which connect virtual, environmental, corpo- tional bonds. However in the context of human-AI real, and psychological dimensions. This transdisci- interactions, empathy becomes elusive. A different plinary approach to architecture has been well es- type of question emerges: can empathy exist in the tablished by several seminal architects and artists. context of human-AI interaction? If yes, how differ- Ascott (1995) argues that the current state of west- ent is it from human-human interactions and what ern architecture does not support “the human need makes it unique? There are many initiatives currently for transformation”. Cyberception can enable a new researching possible answers to these questions. form of architecture to support post-biological life, Even though there are many current human-AI characterized by “artificially enhanced interactions of applications that are dedicated to creating new artifi- perception and cognition”. This approach was pio- cial empathy experiences, initiatives that address the neered by Derrick de Kerckhove (2002), who has con- design of embedded sensing capabilities in respon- nected Ascott’s concept of cyberception as architec- sive environments with the specific purpose of pro- ture directly to environmental applications of AI. The moting self-empathy and insight could not be found architecture of intelligence (de Kerckhove 2002) de- in our research for this project. ‘Emoting City’ is our scribes a two-way road bridging material levels of re- response to this gap in human-AI interface design. ality to cognitive levels of experience. EMBEDDED CYBERCEPTION Architectural Precedence Cyberception is defined as “the convergence of The interconnected relations between psychology, perceptive and conceptual processes in which the digital technologies and architecture are clarified by connectivity of telematic networks plays a con- deCOi Architects in their seminal paper Technolog- structive role” (Cipolletta 2018). When consid- ical Latency: from autoplastic to alloplastic (2000). ering environmentally embedded processes of AI, This work marks the beginning of the application of facial-recognition