Abstract
In response to the popularized catastrophic narratives of AI, Hai-hAI 2.0 stages a speculative encounter and rehearses digital empathy between humans and AI. This interactive artwork imagines AI as a companion species to co-present, co-feel, and empathize with; it invites participants to rehearse an alternative form of relating with AI that moves beyond fear or control, pointing toward and mediating an ethic of care and empathy between human and AI. Through a custom affective computing pipeline, the metaphorical AI senses participants' emotional states and empathizes with them, and visualizes its affective resonance in real-time. This empathic resonance is interwoven with a spatial play of light and shadow, wherein the human–AI proximity modulates their relational dynamics visually. Together, these embodied experiences stage affective resonance and spatial engagement as a new kind of interactivity and ethical rehearsal. Through its multi-layered interactive experience design, the artwork reflects on how affective resonance and relational positioning might foster more situated, empathetic, and ethically attuned human–AI relations; it opens up speculative possibilities for embodied relating with AI, asking how we might engage with AI otherwise.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Media of output | Physical / On-site |
| Size | Flexible |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2025 |
Keywords
- AI
- Human-AI Relations
- Catastrophic Narrative
- Nonhuman Empathy
- Companion Species
- Interactive Art
- Speculative Design