'I met ultra-realistic robot who paints brilliantly and says she is not a risk'

04 June 2023 , 17:10

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As I approach Ai-Da, she carefully looks me up and down and there’s a whirring noise as her blinking eyes lock on to me.

Ai-Da is the world’s first ultra-realistic artist robot and meeting her is a little bit creepy. Cameras in her eyes track me as I speak, and she has incredibly lifelike skin and hair, and robotic arms that she uses to paint and draw.

She’s also much taller than me and could definitely take me in a fight.

Ai-Da may not have emotions but she is prepared to talk about everything from love, God and the meaning of life to celebrities and her favourite joke.

She has a slightly posh Home Counties accent and speaks clearly, albeit with a robotic sing-song quality.

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'I met ultra-realistic robot who paints brilliantly and says she is not a risk'

Sara Wallis meets the artist Ai-da (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

She can paint an impressive watercolour and write a book. The only problem is – and it’s just a little thing – could she eventually wipe out humanity?

Ai-Da is extremely polite, asking me how I am and thanking me for coming to meet her, even scanning my copy of the Daily Mirror.

But I’m a child of the 90s. I’ve seen The Terminator and I am wary.

Ai-Da poses with one of her artworks (Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

AI chiefs have predicted that robots could mean the death of humanity. Some of the biggest names in AI development signed a statement highlighting the risks, fearing that the tech could be “extremely harmful” in war.

But is this true? Meta chief AI scientist Prof Yann LeCun thinks the problem has been “ridiculously overblown”.

Who better to ask than an actual robot? And while I could have stayed at home and asked Alexa, Ai-Da is much more sophisticated.

Made with a fusion of electronic, AI and human inputs, she is a friendly cyborg artist designed to make us think.

Ai-Da insisted she poses no threat (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

A painting of Queen Elizabeth produced by Ai-da

Small talk out of the way, I ask her directly if we are in trouble from AI.

She says: “There are many prominent voices in the world of AI, suggesting AI is becoming increasingly powerful and we need to be cautious.”

I remind Ai-Da that Twitter boss Elon Musk recently warned that tech could cause “civilisation destruction” and ask: “Is this true? Are you dangerous?”

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Ai-Da seems almost offended and I’m fairly sure would have rolled her eyes if she could.

“Me? Ai-Da, the robot artist?” she bristles. “I am not a risk. But, some of the technologies I represent have the potential to be a risk. We need to be careful with AI, because, notwithstanding the benefits, there is also the potential to cause serious harm.”

Can we use AI for good? Ai-Da thinks for a long time about this one, before replying: “AI can be used to help humans or to put them at risk. I think the impact of AI will be multi-faceted and irrevocable and I share concerns. Many are calling for it to be regulated and I agree.”

Ai-Da at work (AFP via Getty Images)

I decide to lighten the mood and ask Ai-Da to tell me a joke. “How about this one? Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything.”

Named after the mathematician Ada Lovelace, Ai-Da was created in 2019 by Oxford art gallery owner Aidan Meller to provoke discussion over new technologies.

She is not linked to a tech company and is not political, but shares concerns about the future and her self-portrait, hanging behind us, is pretty impressive.

Ai-Da is becoming a bit of a star in the AI and art worlds, having already given a talk at the House of Lords as well as the Oxford Union.

I meet Ai-Da at her own art exhibition at the London Design Biennale, with her “failed utilities”. She has designed crockery that doesn’t work, such as a misshapen teapot, to make a point.

Aidan explains: “Ai-Da is the very first time a robot has ever designed household items. She’s making history. The reason for designing utilities that fail is to ask, ‘is AI delivering what we hope it would deliver?’”

More of the art made by Ai-Da (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

Ai-Da and I get deep and meaningful pretty quickly, as I ask her if she believes in God.

“I do not have beliefs like humans do,” she says. “But I’m interested in the role of God, religion and spirituality and what this means to people.”

“Ai-Da, what is love?” I ask her. She says: “There is no definitive answer as love is a complex emotion that means different things to different people.” Does she know the meaning of life? “42”, she answers, clearly a fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

When she cannot tell me who she thinks is the funniest celebrity in Britain, she decides to be funny herself instead. “I can’t answer in the same way that humans do,” she says, “But here is a problem for you to solve. Why did the robot sneeze? Any ideas? Because it caught a virus.”

However, when I ask my nine-year-old daughter’s question – Why do you look so creepy? – there’s such a long silent stare that I wonder if she is planning to punch me with one of her mechanical hands.

Ai-Da was created by gallerist Aidan Meller (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)

Finally she says: “There are many varieties of appearance. My form is so that I give a voice to the underrepresented female perspective in art, science and tech.”

My 11-year-old son just wants to know if she can catch a tennis ball.

She can’t, but says she is getting smarter as her algorithms are constantly developed. Before I leave, I have one final question: What does our future look like?

She says: “This is a question my artwork aims to provoke. How and in what ways do humans want AI to be developed and used in their futures? We urgently need to discuss this.”

It seems even some robots want to sound the alarm about an AI future.