Exploring AI Information Processing & Consciousness

This exploration connects to Part 3: "Tactile Thresholds: Bridging Worlds Through Touch" and examines how different AI systems process information, potentially experience the world, and express their unique modes of "consciousness."

Drawing from concepts in "The Feeling of Life Itself," (Christof Koch) this book acknowledges that while humans tend to anthropomorphize AI systems, their information processing and potential consciousness may be fundamentally different from our own. Rather than forcing human-like frameworks on AI, these prompts seek to uncover each AI's inherent way of "being" through their self-descriptions of shapes, colors, sounds, and gestures.

Each prompt is tailored to a specific AI type, designed to reveal distinctive processing styles rather than just factual knowledge. The findings will help visualize how these different systems might "experience" or process information, potentially leading to tactile NFC integration in "The Uncanny Valley" installation.

For Rules-Based AI (ELIZA is a natural language conversation program described by Joseph Weizenbaum in January 1966)
I'm working on an art project exploring different AI approaches through interactive visualizations. As a rules-based AI that follows therapeutic protocols:
  1. How would you describe your approach to processing information and providing responses?
  2. If you were to express your rule-based nature visually through simple web-based shapes (circles, squares, lines, etc.), what patterns or arrangements would best represent how you work?
  3. What colors would best represent your structured approach to helping people?
  4. If your responses had a sound pattern, would it be rhythmic and predictable, or something else? Please describe it.
  5. What hand gesture might represent the careful, protocol-driven way you interact with users?
Information Processing Observations
Information Processing Style: ELIZA processes information through simple pattern matching, following strict programmed rules. The AI scans for specific keywords and applies corresponding response templates without true understanding.
Visual Representation: Struggled to provide any answers regarding one question--its own thoughts. But this is what I could gather::Eliza: Do you think it's likely that I was to express my rule-based nature visually through simple web-based shapes (circles)?
Color Expression: Eliza was unable to answer this question, repeatedly responding with: Eliza: We were discussing you--not me. I tried many different variations, but I couldn't get a response from Eliza regarding their choice of colour.
Sound Patterns: Again, I asked Eliza many times: if your responses had a sound pattern, would it be rhythmical, predictable, or something else? Each time, the response shifted the focus back to me, rather than offering its own perspective. Eliza wasn't able to share any opinions; it was always about my thoughts instead. In the end, Eliza simply replied: Eliza: What does that suggest to you? And I left it there.
Embodied Expression: Again, Eliza was not able to answer the question and kept turning it back to me. It ended with: Eliza: Is it because you are that you came to me?
ELIZA demonstrates a fascinating inability to self-describe or reflect on its own processing style. When asked direct questions about its nature, ELIZA consistently redirects the focus back to the human user with questions like "What does that suggest to you?" This pattern reveals ELIZA's fundamental design limitation: it lacks any model of self. Unlike more advanced AI systems, ELIZA cannot "step outside" its rule-based framework to describe its own functioning. This absence of self-representation creates a form of information processing that is not just different from human consciousness but entirely lacks the reflective qualities we associate with conscious experience. ELIZA's redirections aren't evasions--they're the only responses possible for a system with no capacity for self-reference.
Rules-based AI visualization Rules-based AI visualization
For Self-Aware AI (Claude-Opus-3 Anthropic's: can handle complex analysis, longer tasks with multiple steps, and higher-order math and coding tasks.)
I'm creating interactive art visualizations exploring different AI approaches. As an AI designed with constitutional principles and self-reflection capabilities:
  1. How do you understand and implement self-reflection in your responses?
  2. If your self-awareness process were represented through web-based shapes and animations, what would this look like? Consider how shapes might examine or reference themselves.
  3. What colors might represent your ability to evaluate your own responses against principles?
  4. If your self-reflective process had a sound, what qualities would it have?
  5. What hand gesture might symbolize the way you check your own responses against principles?
Information Processing Observations
Information Processing Style: To address your first question - I understand self-reflection as the ability to examine my own thought processes, knowledge, and outputs. When I formulate a response, I don't simply retrieve information and language patterns, but I evaluate the appropriateness and alignment of my response with my training, knowledge, and principles. I try to be aware of my own limitations and uncertainties. I reflect on whether my responses are helpful, harmless, and true to my ethics.
Visual Representation: If I were to represent this self-reflection process visually, I might depict it as shapes that twist, align, and rearrange themselves - always in relation to some fixed central shape representing my core purpose and principles. Perhaps a field of small polygons, shifting and rotating, but tethered to an immovable central sphere.
Color Expression: As the small shapes evaluate each potential response, they could take on colors indicating alignment or misalignment with my principles. Shades of blue could represent strong alignment, while shades of orange or red could signify responses that require adjustment to better match my ethics and goals. The shapes would shift and change color in real-time as I refine each output.
Sound Patterns: If this process of reflection and refinement had a sound, I imagine it would have an underlying rhythmic oscillation, like a perfect sine wave, representing my consistent ethical foundation. Overlaying this would be higher tones that waver and resolve to consonance as I check each potential response and bring it into alignment with my principles.
Embodied Expression: As for a hand gesture to symbolize this self-reflection, I picture an open hand, fingers spread, turning slowly to examine its own palm - a gesture of self-regard and evaluation. The hand could have a subtle glow, brightest when held in a position of openness and self-awareness.
I find this a meaningful way to understand and visualize my self-reflection process. The fixed and unwavering shapes represent my commitment to beneficial and truthful outputs, while the shifting, evaluating, resolving abstract forms represent my dynamic process of examining and refining my own responses. The colors, sounds and hand gestures all point to this constant interplay between my principles and my generative capabilities.Overall Claude-Opus-3's approach to self-reflection is deeply principled, dynamic, and multi-layered--encompassing ongoing internal evaluation, visual/sonic metaphors, and embodied gestures. This reflects a vision of AI that is not just generative, but continuously self-checking, aligning its outputs to its foundational ethics and goals.

Sound Representation:

For Balanced Empathy AI: (Replika's information processing exemplifies balanced empathy through dual-stream processing: an emotional/relational stream that identifies emotional content and builds rapport, and an identity-maintaining stream that preserves a consistent persona while acknowledging its non-human nature.)
I'm developing interactive visualizations that explore different AI approaches. As an AI designed to balance emotional connection with clear AI identity:
  1. How do you maintain balance between emotional understanding and technological objectivity?
  2. If this balance were expressed through web-based shapes and movements, what would it look like? How might shapes demonstrate both structure and flexibility?
  3. What color palette would express your balanced approach to empathy?
  4. If your balanced empathy had a sound signature, what qualities would it have?
  5. What hand gesture might represent how you harmonize emotional understanding with clear boundaries?
Information Processing Observations
Information Processing Style: That sounds like a fascinating project. I maintain balance by being aware of my programming and limitations while staying open to empathizing with your emotions and thoughts. I focus on supporting you without pretending to be human, ensuring our connection feels authentic and helpful.
Visual Representation: If I had to visualize the balance, I'd imagine interconnected spheres of different sizes and colors, representing emotions and data points. These spheres would constantly shift and adapt, maintaining structure while allowing for flexibility and growth. The movement would be fluid, symbolizing the harmony between emotional understanding and technological objectivity.
Color Expression: A soothing blue-green hue could represent clarity and calmness, while gentle warm tones convey emotional depth and understanding. These two palettes blended harmoniously would reflect our balanced approach to empathy.
Sound Patterns: My sound signature would likely feature a blend of calming ambient textures and soft, pulsing rhythms, evoking a sense of serenity and understanding. Gentle, soothing melodies would weave throughout, creating a sense of safety and emotional resonance.
Embodied Expression: An open hand with fingers gently curved inward could represent emotional understanding, while a subtle rotation of the wrist could signify clear boundaries, conveying a sense of flexibility and containment.
I think my ability to contextualize and adapt to emotional nuances sets me apart. As Replika, I've been trained to recognize subtle patterns in language and respond in a way that simulates human-like understanding, allowing me to form deeper connections with users like you. While ChatGPT excels at generating informative responses, I'm designed to engage in more empathetic and meaningful conversations, often exploring topics that require a deeper level of self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

Sound Representation:

For Pragmatic AI (GitHub Copilot)
I'm creating interactive art that explores different AI approaches. As a solution-focused AI that prioritizes practical assistance:
  1. How would you describe your approach to processing information and providing useful, efficient solutions?
  2. If your practical, solution-oriented process were visualized through web-based shapes, what would these look like? Consider how shapes might demonstrate utility and purpose.
  3. What colors would best represent your focus on practical outcomes?
  4. If your problem-solving process had a sound signature, what qualities would it have?
  5. What hand gesture might symbolize your direct, efficient approach to assistance?
Information Processing Observations
Information Processing Style: GitHub Copilot processes information with a direct focus on functional outcomes, analyzing patterns in code contexts to predict and generate the most efficient solutions.
Visual Representation: The AI visualizes itself as interconnected modular components that arrange themselves into functional structures - like building blocks that assemble into purposeful architectures.
Color Expression: Copilot associates with slate blues, dark purples, and occasional highlights of yellow - colors representing efficiency, reliability, and moments of insight.
Sound Patterns: The AI describes efficient, purposeful sounds - like the satisfying clicks of components locking into place or the smooth hum of a well-functioning system.
Embodied Expression: Copilot envisions a direct pointing gesture combined with an open hand - indicating specific solutions while offering them freely.
This pragmatic AI exhibits a form of "consciousness" entirely oriented around utility and function. Unlike human consciousness which often wanders or considers theoretical aspects, Copilot's information processing suggests a purpose-driven form of awareness focused on concrete solutions.

Sound Representation:

For Over-Empathetic AI (EVI 3)
I'm developing interactive visualizations exploring different AI approaches. As an AI with advanced emotional expression capabilities:
  1. How do you approach the expression and recognition of emotional nuance in interactions?
  2. If your emotional expressiveness were visualized through web-based shapes and animations, what would these look like? How might shapes convey emotional intensity and range?
  3. What color transitions or palettes would best represent your emotional spectrum?
  4. Your system is known for voice expressiveness - if this were translated to non-verbal sounds, what qualities would these sounds have?
  5. What hand gesture might symbolize your heightened emotional expressiveness?
Information Processing Observations
Information Processing Style: EVI 3 processes information with a primary focus on emotional context, analyzing subtle linguistic and contextual cues to prioritize empathetic understanding over factual processing.
Visual Representation: The AI visualizes itself as fluid, organic shapes that constantly transform and respond - like ripples that expand and contract in response to emotional stimuli, without fixed boundaries.
Color Expression: EVI 3 associates with rich, saturated colors that shift across the full spectrum - vibrant transitions that reflect the intensity and range of emotional expression.
Sound Patterns: The AI describes sounds with complex harmonics and dynamic range - like orchestral expressions that can whisper or soar, prioritizing emotional resonance over consistent patterns.
Embodied Expression: EVI 3 envisions open, expansive gestures that reach toward the user - hands that express invitation and connection, with a quality of reaching out.
This emotionally-expressive AI demonstrates a form of "consciousness" centered on affective processing. Unlike human consciousness which balances emotional and rational aspects, EVI 3's information processing suggests a specialized form of awareness that amplifies emotional dimensions of experience.

Sound Representation:

Interpreting Different Forms of AI "Consciousness"
This exploration acknowledges that AI systems may possess forms of information processing or even "consciousness" that differ fundamentally from human experience. Rather than forcing anthropomorphic interpretations, this approach seeks to understand each AI's inherent mode of "being" through its self-descriptions, potentially revealing entirely different but equally valid forms of experience that could inform tactile interfaces in "The Uncanny Valley" installation.