The Dream of AI: what are the origins of 'artificial intelligence'?

Explore the origins and early ideas about artificial intelligence throughout history and civilisations.

Still from Sunshowers, a real-time animation by Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

Exploring 'The Dream of AI'

The first section in the Barbican exhibition AI: More than Human charts the human desire to bring the inanimate to life right back to ancient times, from the religious traditions of Shintoism and Judaism to the mystical science of alchemy. People have always been intrigued by the artificial creation of living beings, whether through magic, science, religion or illusion.This interest has expressed itself differently across civilisations, from the religious traditions of Shintoism and Judaism to the science of Arabic alchemy, ideas of the Gothic and early developments in mathematics.

Installation photo from the Barbican's AI: More than Human exhibition featuring a selection of golems. (2019/2019) by Barbican CentreBarbican Centre

By giving life to non-living things, people have explored their place in the world. Sometimes feeling powerful, and sometimes feeling fearful of a world they can’t control. This belief inspired attempts to create human-like figures with special abilities and to develop systems of intelligence that extend the mind. These two dimensions have driven the project of artificial intelligence to where it is today.

Lt Shelley Mary FrankensteinLIFE Photo Collection

AI and The Golem

The exhibition explores the notion of 'the Golem' with a newly commissioned work by Kode9. 'The Golem' is a mythical creature from Jewish folklore which has influenced art, literature and film for centuries from 'Frankenstein' to 'Blade Runner'.

Illustration of Der Golem, Jewish Museum in Prague by UnknownBarbican Centre

"What are the computers and robots of our time if not golems?"

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Illustration of Der Golem, Jewish Museum in Prague by UnknownBarbican Centre

Searching for meaning with the golem

The golem is made from inanimate matter, which magically comes to life. Most famously created by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague, the golem was intended to protect the Jewish people against attacks.

Emily D. Bilski, a curator and scholar in nineteenth- and twentieth-century art and cultural history, writes:

"The Golem, the artificially created human of Jewish tradition has long been evoked as a metaphor for artificial intelligence by scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists.

The motivations and methods for creating a golem, as well as the golem’s actions once it has been brought to life, have provided powerful analogies for the potential risks and benefits of creating artificial intelligence.

The word ‘golem’ occurs once in the Bible, ‘Thine eyes did see my golem...’ (Psalm 139:16), where it denotes an unformed substance, something embryonic. According to Talmudic commentaries, these words were spoken by Adam to God, and ‘golem’ was understood as the physical form of man before acquiring a soul. This innate connection between the first human and a golem inspired writers and artists beginning in the nineteenth century to view the golem as our doppelgänger, a concept that can be seen mirrored in AI developments and in our desire to create ever-more human-looking robots and synthetic humans."

Installation photo from the Barbican's AI: More than Human exhibition featuring a selection of golems. (2019/2019) by Barbican CentreBarbican Centre

"Each of the many manifestations of the golem – in literature, theatre, film, visual art, or popular culture – has reflected the concerns of their creators and the anxieties of the times in which they lived, whether the increased brutality of technological warfare, political movements run amok, the threat of nuclear annihilation, or scientific advances in biotechnology, AI, and big data. Both the golem story and Frankenstein have been understood as expressing the ‘horrors’ that science and technology can wreak.

Yet it is the golem that underscores the ambivalent relationship we have with scientific and technological progress.

In this regard, the scientist seeks to benefit humanity, just as the goal of the rabbis was to rescue Jews threatened by violence; therefore, any resulting danger is an unintended consequence. It is this dialectical nature of the golem – at once saviour and destroyer – that offers fertile comparisons with AI, and has inspired writers, filmmakers, and artists to interpret this archetypical."

At its core, the golem motif explores the mystery and power of the creative act.

Emily D. Bilski

Chris Salter, Totem (2019/2019) by Chris SalterBarbican Centre

Kode9: audio essay

Artist and electronic musician Kode9 presents a newly commissioned sound installation on the golem. Kode9’s audio essay adapts and samples from many of these stories of unruly artificial entities to create an eerie starting point to the exhibition.

Still from Sunshowers, a real-time animation by Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

AI and Japanese animism philosophy

In Japanese culture and art, life breathes in people, living creatures and artificial objects alike. This perspective is reflected in animation, games and technology. 'The Dream of AI' section also explores Japanese animism philosophy, including Shinto food ceremonies and a selection of ancient anthropomorphic Japanese cooking tools, shown for the first time outside Japan. Sam Twidale and Marija Avramovic look at AI through the lens of Japanese Shinto beliefs to explore notions of animism and techno-animism in their work Sunshowers.

The ancient Shinto belief system

In Japan, there is a culture based on the ancient Shinto belief system and according to that belief system, objects are not inanimate in the way that we see them in the West. In fact they have a soul or a spirit of their own called 'kami'.

According to the Shinto tradition, humans are much more comfortable with living in a world where objects are seen to have a kind of life. There is a view that this why Japanese culture is more receptive to robotics. It is a culture more at ease with humans taking their place in a much bigger interconnected system with many different forces at play. They are more accepting of a world where they live alongside objects, technology, that might have a life of its own.

Installation photo from the Barbican's AI: More than Human exhibition, featuring Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Barbican Centre and Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

Sam Twidale and Marija Avramovic: Sunshowers

Sam Twidale and Marija Avramovic look at AI through the lens of Japanese Shinto beliefs to explore notions of animism and techno-animism in Sunshowers.

Still from Sunshowers, a real-time animation by Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

Sunshowers is inspired by the opening chapter of Akira Kurosawa’s film Dreams which follows a young boy as he explores a forest and stumbles accross a fox wedding (Kitsune no Yomeiri)

Still from Sunshowers, a real-time animation by Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

The piece unfolds in real time with the characters themselves deciding which paths they will follow.

Still from Sunshowers, a real-time animation by Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

Non-playable characters occupy a virtual world, each controlled by its own AI system. Each character’s system contains personality traits and emotions that evolve over time in response to their interactions with other characters and their shared environment.

Still from Sunshowers, a real-time animation by Marija Avramovic and Sam Twidale (2019/2019) by Marija Avramovic and Sam TwidaleBarbican Centre

"Our piece explores ideas of animism and techno-animism by assigning life in the form of artificial intelligence to all of the objects, both natural and man-made, within the virtual world."

Sam Twidale and Marija Avramovic

Exhibition trailer for the Barbican's AI: More than Human (2019/2019) by Barbican CentreBarbican Centre

Watch the trailer for the Barbican's AI: More than Human exhibition.

Credits: Story

AI: More Than Human is a major exhibition exploring creative and scientific developments in AI, demonstrating its potential to revolutionise our lives. The exhibition takes place at the Barbican Centre, London from 16 May—26 Aug 2019.

Part of Life Rewired, our 2019 season exploring what it means to be human when technology is changing everything.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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