KARLSRUHE.- They are soft, they purr, and they respond to touch and to being spoken to: the ten robot guinea pigs at the first Electronic Petting Zoo, which opened at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Children and adults can test their interaction with lifelike machines here. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, one question in particular is becoming increasingly important: Is it alive or just pretending to be? The free installation in the ZKM foyer is meant to help visitors learn to make this distinction.

Humans & Machines

Interactive technology has long been an integral part of our everyday lives. Whether it's a voice assistant in a smart home, a talking doll, or smart sensors, we are surrounded by objects that appear to be alive. Large language models such as ChatGPT, which pretend to be human counterparts, are only the latest manifestation of anthropomorphic machines. As the 21st century will be increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, the ability to distinguish between what is alive and what is only pretending to be alive is fundamental. “The more machines replace social contact, the more problematic they become for us humans,” says Tina Lorenz, head of the ZKM | Hertzlab, which initiated the Electronic Petting Zoo. The project therefore aims to help sensitize children and adults to this important distinction. “In our view, the robot guinea pigs are very well suited to introducing children to the competent handling of objects that appear to be alive. They can illustrate the complex functioning of AI to a very young target group without necessarily functioning with AI themselves,” explains Lorenz.

Publicly accessible petting zoo

The ZKM | Karlsruhe sees itself as a useful museum, a “USEUM.” In this sense, the Electronic Petting Zoo has also set itself the goal of being useful and to foster one of the most important skills of the 21st century: the reliable distinction between “natural” and “artificial.” But other questions about the future also find space here: Can “soft” robots replace conventional petting zoos and pets? Do they have the potential to help lonely people enjoy life more? And is a robot petting zoo a step in the right direction or rather in the wrong direction? We want to engage our audience in a conversation about these and other questions. The Electronic Petting Zoo is open to the public and free of charge during ZKM opening hours. Children accompanied by an adult can spend about half an hour with the robot guinea pigs. Adults without children are also welcome.

Research collaboration with KIT

The Electronic Petting Zoo is a project of ZKM | Hertzlab, which conducts artistic research and development at the intersection of art, politics, and technology. Parallel to its public use, the Electronic Petting Zoo is also being accompanied by a research project conducted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Together with Prof. Dr. Kathrin Gerling, Professor of Human-Machine Interaction and Accessibility at the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics (IAR) in the Faculty of Computer Science, we want to investigate whether and how kindergarten-age children can recognize and learn the difference between living animals and artificially animated objects.