(Archive) The Spirit Machine

AI brings the past into the now.

For a year, the AI will write new texts to inspire students and researchers. The artwork shows that AI can give someone from the distant past a place in the present. Maria Montessori was an inspiration for modern education and now serves as an inspiration again, thanks to AI. The texts emphasize the importance of freedom, inspiration (spirit), and own initiative in education. More broadly, they also deal with compassion, moderation, and connection with each other and the natural world. Values that might be more relevant than ever in the transition to sustainable societies.

The specific AI system used is GPT-3, which reflects on news reports about research on the university’s website, www.ru.nl. The system identifies over-arching themes in a report and writes new reflections on these topics in the typical style of Montessori. Never before has GPT-3 been used in this way. The complete art installation was developed in close cooperation with Radboud University's AI department.

Close attention was paid to the ethical quality of the output. The artwork contains a de-biasing mechanism that assures all texts are gender neutral and never use words like he or she. All texts are automatically screened for plagiarism, profanity, and negativity before they appear on screen. Finally, the AI estimates the importance of the different words that are used in the texts and adjusts the coloring and rhythm with which they appear. An experiment to present AI-generated texts in a contemporary, more natural way to the human spectator.

www.ru.nl/thespiritmachine

www.jeroenvandermost.com/the-spirit-machine