ARTWORK DETAILS

David Aston
Oracle II (Superintelligence existential risks, mitigations & outcomes future prediction simulator)
1956 one arm bandit, aluminium bank safety deposit box
2024
38 H x 42.5 W x 29.5 D cm

FURTHER DETAILS

Oracle II (Superintelligence existential risks, mitigations & outcomes), is a sculptural Artificial Intelligence (AI) Superintelligence future scenario simulator. An oracle and work of AI gamification made to simulate AI future scenarios using the latest data from research into AI existential risks, proposed mitigations and potential impacts.

It is the second in a series of sculptural and digital Oracle future prediction simulators. The first (Oracle, 2020-1) was developed in response to future progress in artificial intelligence: A survey of expert opinion by the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI), and gamified the dates for the realisation of human-level machine intelligence, super-intelligence and the outcome for humanity.

Oracle II is made from a near identical deconstructed one arm bandit made in the same year as the Dartmouth conference (1956). The machine’s elaborately cast and illuminated fittings have been removed, revealing its base metal, hand-cranked mechanical and clockwork inner workings. In this, its most functional form, the machine shares its ancestry and aesthetic with earlier 19th entry mechanical computing engines.

Oracle II has a digital simulator enabling you to generate your own future prediction and AI risk scenarios. You can access it here: https://www.rmutt.co.uk/new-index-3#/oracle2/

ARTWORK DETAILS

David Aston
Oracle II (Superintelligence existential risks, mitigations & outcomes future prediction simulator)
Digital simulator
2024

EXHIBITIONS

2025 | ArtEvol 2025: Voices from the Undefined | Saatchi Gallery | London

2025 | The New Oracles | The Royal Society of Arts | London