«AI: More than Human» at World Museum, Liverpool is a large-scale exhibition that is giving the city and region’s visitors a chance to see its world-class interpretation and interactive elements.
Billed as an unprecedented survey of the creative and scientific developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the exhibition explores the relationship between humans and technology.
AI: More than Human, was developed by Barbican International Enterprises and co-produced by Forum Groningen, Netherlands and was first shown at the Barbican Centre between May and August 2019. It runs at World Museum until 31 October 2021.
It has taken more than two years to bring the exhibition to the World Museum – established in 1851, it is the oldest of the museums operated by National Museums Liverpool – after careful negotiations and the disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.
«AI: More than Human« is mostly interactive and uses cutting-edge technologies which are designed to be both educational and leave a lasting impression on visitors.
These include research projects, from Deepmind, Jigsaw, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Sony Computer Science Laboratories and Hiroshi Ishiguro, who famously created a robot version of himself, alongside the artists who are embracing its new possibilities in their work.
They posed questions such as: ‘Is AI already shaping our lives without us realising?’ ‘Can AI empower communities?’ ‘Will AI take over our jobs?’
The exhibition is bursting with interaction as well as more than 170 exhibits including video games, film clips, artefacts, manuscripts and figurines, artworks, machines and robots. It features replicas of the Enigma machine and the machines developed by Alan Turing at Bletchley Park, which were used to crack the secret code used by the Germans during the Second World War. There’s AIBO, a robot dog that you visitors can touch and play with who learns and responds to commands and is intended to help to boost our health and wellbeing. And a poetry machine which allows visitors to create a unique poem portrait from algorithms.
The AI story
The exhibition is divided into four sections and begins with origins of Artificial Intelligence. “Its origins have been influenced by lots of factors, but some people believe it has its roots in ancient civilisation, so we look at the religious traditions of Judaism and Shintoism, the Arabic science of Alchemy and early mathematics,” says Johnson.
Section two deals with the evolution of computing from early calculating machines to the data explosion of the early 2000s and features the ground-breaking work of Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing.
Section three examines the capability AI has to change society through the media we consume and the products we buy, considering ethical issues; how will AI impact privacy, truth and freedom.
The final section looks to the future and the potential of AI. How it might shape our lives, the potential it has to improve our bodies, to eradicate illness, produce new food groups and even extend life. The exhibition encourages visitors to consider their own relationship with AI and what the future may look like.
Credit source (text and photos): Museum Next (Adrian Murphy)