Janelle Shane studies the bugs and quirks of machine learning and uses them in her work. She finds creative, and funny, ways to apply the wrongs and imperfections of algorithms. Her entertaining creations show us how computers recognize and apply patterns. For example, one of her works demonstrates how a computer tried to make a recipe based on the hundreds of recipes that the algorithm received. As shown in the picture below, the computer was able to recognize that there’s an ingredients list followed by directions. But, the computer isn’t able to create a recipe that makes sense (ex: there’s no lemons, carrots, or potatoes in the ingredients list; what does it mean to refrigerate something decorated).
AI’s attempt on making a recipe
Another one of Shane’s fun experiments was to computer-generate candy heart messages, as shown below.
Computer-Generated Candy Heart Messages
In her Eyeo talk, Shane teaches us how artificial intelligence thinks. In the photo below, Shane tests two photos of a mountainous landscape: one with sheep and one without. The algorithm is meant to produce a caption and tags for the photo, as seen above the photos. Both captions contain sheep. The reason why, as Shane explains in the talk, is “what we have in this particular algorithm is it doesn’t quite understand what sheep are. Every time it sees a green, grassy, treeless landscape like this, it tends to hallucinate sheep. Or, at least, it doesn’t know that it’s not seeing sheep because nobody told it what sheep actually are.”
Sheep AI Recognition from Janelle Shane’s Eyeo Talk
Shane’s creative processes assist in learning the flaws of machine learning; and in understanding the computer’s failures, we can figure out how to program the computer closer to a human-like way of thinking. Shane released a book titled, “You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How AI Works and Why It’s Making the World a Weirder Place” which consists of cartoons on her humorous experiments with AI. Overall, her work is a very amusing and laughable way to get to know the processes of machine learning and algorithms.
Links
Shane’s official blog, showcasing her work: https://www.aiweirdness.com/
Shane’s Eyeo talk: https://vimeo.com/287093890