For my current project in Temporary Expert, I have been experimenting with artificially intelligent voice interfaces in order to build an art piece with similar functionality to the Amazon Echo, but with unexpected properties.
My robot will take the form of a benevolent computer virus. Using tools like pyautogui and the python webbrowser library, it will respond to user inquiries by opening documents, typing, and displaying web pages. It will also talk back to users using Apple’s text-to-speech utility.
I am building this robot using Wit.ai, a deep learning tool for making voice interfaces. Using the tool’s dashboard, I have been training my robot to respond to various user intents.
The core of the functionality will be a therapy bot similar to ELIZA, but with some additional functionality. When this project is complete, I believe it will provide an interesting take on artificial intelligence. Using AI tools for different purposes than they were designed, I hope to make users question whether the tool they are using is in fact sentient and aware of their presence.
