Technological advancement is an inevitable part of modern life, but the rise of AI presents a litany of unique and scary concerns, from wreaking havoc on the environment, possible job replacement, and private info used for nefarious (or even just plainly invasive) purposes.
And with the growing alliance between the tech world and the current presidential administration, the threats posed by AI continue to escalate; new reporting recently revealed how DOGE uses it to monitor federal employees’ communication. You might use ChatGPT for innocuous purposes, but AI’s intentions are anything but.
While the owner of 121 Norman Avenue waits on permits, local artist Nim Ben-Reuven has repurposed the ground floor into an art installation. A sign affixed to the window dubs it “Chat Haus,” a luxury co-working space for ChatGPT. The AI tool gets personified as googly-eyed cardboard robots. Bin-Reuven, a multimedia artist who has called Greenpoint home since 2011, used cardboard obtained from Lucas Electronics to construct the robots and other office attributes, like desks and fax machines.
An Instagram account, @thecardboardbaby, documents these cute yet menacing creatures, working hard to prepare your PowerPoint presentation for work, or to generate unfunny memes on Twitter (never gonna give the unrepentant fascist/general loser Elon Musk the satisfaction of calling the platform its legal name).
“I’ve always found a healthy amount of satire in the bull rush toward ‘digital disruption’ and the impetus for the automation of everything under the sun, so building a bunch of cardboard baby robots slapping away at keyboards was always something I thought was a funny and slightly creepy send up of the industry—especially when imagining some warehouse full of them, working non-stop on ridiculous, energy-gobbling ChatGPT and AI art-rendering prompts,” Ben-Reuven tells Greenpointers. “Cardboard, when used in my art, expresses the ingenuity in all that it can replicate but also impermanence, superficiality and structural weakness.”
The parody lands with particular force in a neighborhood filled with co-working spaces, businesses that affix “haus” to their name, and even a robot barista.
“It gives me great joy to have a physical installation randomly appear in the city, allowing people to take a brief moment from their commute or neighborhood stroll to find something to go “hm!” at,” he continued. “Whether it makes people giggle or confused or angry with the thought that there could actually be a ‘Luxury co-working space exclusively for Chatbots and AI engines’ in that space.”
The project will likely stick around through the end of the month (subject to further construction plans); Ben-Reuven says he’ll continue to add new elements, such as animatronics from his friend @wash_your_manipulators. He advises stopping by 9 to 11 am or 8 to 10:30 pm for to catch a glimpse of the robots hard at work.