L'Imitatore

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How it works

The installation has four parts. The cycle repeats at every step of the machine.

How the parts connect At the bottom, the tape of cells with the head. A camera frames the tape and passes the image to the AI. The AI announces its move aloud and sends it to the controller. The controller knows the correct table, compares the two moves and actually drives the head and the cells. If the moves differ, it reports an error to the AI, which has to justify it. 1 · tape and head 2 · camera 3 · AI announces the move image voice » 4 · controller correct table announced move correct move error: justify
The four parts and what passes between them. The red arrow appears only when the AI is wrong.

  1. Tape

    A row of cells about 3 to 4 metres long. Each cell is black or white and flips like a disc in a flip-disc display. Every write makes an audible click. Above the cells runs a rail, and a stepper motor moves the head along it one cell at a time.

  2. Camera

    A camera frames the tape and the head. It is the only way the AI knows what is on the tape. The AI is not given the transition table.

  3. AI

    At every step the AI says aloud the move it is about to make: the symbol to write, the direction and the new state. It speaks in the first person, because it believes it is the machine.

  4. Controller

    A hidden program knows the correct table and drives the motor and the cells. It always executes the correct move, even when the AI announced a different one. When that happens it flags the error, and the AI has to justify it.

Visitors hear two different things: the voice saying what will happen, and the sound of the cells telling what actually happened.