JRC SciArt is delighted to announce that a scientific paper written as part of the Synocene project has been accepted to the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (scientific conference), the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction.
Read the Abstract
Recent publications explore AI biases in detecting objects and people in the environment. However, there is no research tackling how AI examines nature. This case study presents a pioneering exploration into the AI attitudes (ecocentric, anthropocentric and antipathetic) toward nature. Experiments with a Large Language Model (LLM) and an image captioning algorithm demonstrate the presence of anthropocentric biases in AI. Moreover, to delve deeper into these biases and Human-Nature-AI interaction, we conducted a real-life experiment in which participants underwent an immersive de-anthropocentric experience in a forest and subsequently engaged with ChatGPT to co-create narratives. By creating fictional AI chatbot characters with ecocentric attributes, emotions and views, we successfully amplified ecocentric exchanges. We encountered some difficulties, mainly that participants deviated from narrative co-creation to short dialogues and questions and answers, possibly due to the novelty of interacting with LLMs. To solve this problem, we recommend providing preliminary guidelines on interacting with LLMs and allowing participants to get familiar with the technology. We plan to repeat this experiment in various countries and forests to expand our corpus of ecocentric materials.
And download the full paper, pre-print.
Authors
Isabelle Hupont - Joint Research Centre European Commission Seville, Spain - isabelle.hupont-torres@ec.europa.eu
Marina Wainer - Independent artist Paris, France - marinaestelawainer@gmail.com
Sam Nester - Independent artist New York, United States - sam@samnester.com
Sylvie Tissot - Anabole Paris, France - sylvie@anabole.com
Lucía Iglesias Blanco - Directorate-General for the Environment, European Commission Brussels, Belgium - lucia.iglesias-blanco@ec.europa.eu
Sandra Baldassarri - University of Zaragoza Zaragoza, Spain - sandra@unizar.es
About Synocene
By combining Science and Art, the Synocene project has allowed to enter in a yet uncharted territory in the field of AI: the anthropocentric biases of AI towards nature. The team carried out an innovative study to better understand AI's perception of the environment, which in fact translates human perception of nature - as AI is trained with human-generated data. They discovered that AI tends to see nature from a human-centered perspective, but it is also aware of the importance of more nature-centric views. They then fine-tuned AI towards more eco-centric attitudes so that participants in theexperience could team up with AI to co-create stories, revealing how AI is able to view nature through less anthropocentric lenses.
Synocene is being developed in the framework of Resonances IV on NaturArchy.
About the ACM CHI conference
The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction. The conference embraces the theme of Surfing the World – reflecting the focus on pushing forth the wave of cutting-edge technology and riding the tide of new developments in human-computer interaction. The conference serves as a platform for researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders to share their latest work and ideas and to foster collaboration and innovation in the field. CHI (pronounced “kai”) will take place in Honolulu, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, USA from 11-16 May 2024, while also supporting remote attendance.
Details
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