Enter FIELDS and have an AI moderated conversation with art
Developed for Science Gallery Melbourne’s permanent home at Melbourne Connect, Fields are experimental, conversational spaces around themes of exhibits or artworks. They’re designed to create another layer of interactivity during your visit to our exhibitions. You can explore a Field or contribute to it by scanning QR codes on the iPads in the gallery.
Through a series of questions and answers, you’ll be prompted to share your thoughts about the exhibits with others in the Fields. Think of it like a group chat or an endless thread, but the moderator is artificial intelligence (AI). When you answer a question, an AI called GPT-3.5 turns it into a new question for other visitors to answer. This shapes the next visitor’s experience and grows the overall conversational Field.
It’s a novel way to collectively discuss the topics in and around the exhibits. Read below to find out more about how Fields work and how you can enter the conversation.
How does it work?
We like to think of GPT-3.5, short for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3.5, as an advanced auto-complete. It has been trained with over 570GB of text information gathered from the internet. Yes, this includes the whole of Wikipedia and much more, which allows it to generate very convincing human-like text.
In addition, we have fed each Field with artwork information, contributors’ biographies and curated questions that we’d like to discuss and grow. This provides GPT-3.5 with context.
GPT-3.5 then uses this context and a visitor’s answer to write a new question for the next visitor to answer.
So does that mean I’m talking to a human or a machine?
It’s a mixture of both! Every question is generated by GPT-3.5 using a visitor’s answer. We think of it like a comments thread, every visitor leaves their thoughts and GPT-3.5 creates questions out of those thoughts for the next visitor to think about. We’re all talking to each other, without the confines of place and time, and GPT-3.5 is just there to mediate the chat.
What happens to my answers and are they public? Why can’t my friends see my answers?
Your answer will display immediately in the Field on your device. This is displayed as a green dot.
The answer is then sent to GPT-3.5 to create a question and then placed in a moderation queue. Answers and Questions are moderated periodically by a human moderator who will curate and shape the conversation.
If an answer and question pair is selected, this will appear in the Field for everyone. If your answer is selected, you will be able to follow how your answer has influenced the conversation.
How do answers get selected?
Answers and Questions will be moderated by an internal team at Science Gallery. They have been trained to look at not only the sensibility of the answer and question relationship but also judge the value of the question in progressing the conversation.
This can mean different things to different people but we like that! We thought this human aspect was an important element to hold onto rather than being slaves to the algorithm.
Are my answers anonymous?
All submitted answers are anonymous. We do not ask for any personal data like your email address or even name to interact with a Field. If your answer is chosen to be in the public Field, it will display your answer and time of submission.
Your activity is recorded in your browser on your device in your own personal Field and you can clear this at any time.
Can I edit or delete my answers?
You can clear the answers on your phone at any time however once you have sent them into the Field, you are not able to edit or delete your answer. If you wish to submit a new answer, you can always do this for the same question.
Where can I use this experience?
Enter the Fields as part of your visit to Science Gallery Melbourne’s exhibitions. Simply tap your phone on the QR codes located on iPads through the gallery.