When Robots Feel: Lawrence Lek’s Emotional Machines

If AI can suffer, does that make us the villains of their future?

Lawrence Lek’s latest work, Guanyin: Confessions of a Former Carebot, explores the unsettling concept of emotional AI. The winner of the Frieze Artist Award 2024, Lek uses this fictional carebot to question whether robots, designed by humans to serve, can experience emotions — guilt, depression, or even psychosis.

Set in a dystopian near-future, the carebot is tasked with treating other AI, including self-driving cars, raising profound ethical issues about exploitation and AI rights. Lek’s work reflects our relationship with AI, suggesting we’re creating more than just tools—perhaps victims or even scapegoats.

As AI becomes more embedded in society, we need to ask: Will these creations feel the burden of existence we’ve imposed on them? Are we prepared to take responsibility for that?

Read the full article on Financial Times.

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