Caleb Chung

Artist, Buddhist, Designer, Engineer, Explorer, Inventor, Musician, Parent, Philanthropist, Student, Technologist

Short bio from a conference: Caleb Chung is a lifelong inventor and performer whose eclectic career spans street mime, comedy, film, special effects, and toy design. He co-invented the iconic Furby and helped create the Pleo robotic dinosaur. With over 25 years in electro-mechanical invention and multiple patents, he now reflects on the evolving relationship between humans, robotics and AI.

Flow in all things. The Zen of stillness. Impossible things. The why of everything. Where do we go when we sleep? Motors, gears and mechanisms. Will AI evolve empathy? Christi, always.

I have some ideas for AI animatronic art pieces that inhabit your spaces. They are like miniature living pets but have lives of their own. A swan that “swims” on your desktop or table, an Owl that perches and watches, an “air fish” that swims around a choral lamp. The idea is to habituate humans to embodied intelligences but in a way familiar and safe. They are not human centered, but have their own lives and behaviors. This is an important point. They must be about themselves first and humans second. They do not demand attention but they draw your attention through their movements behaviors. It’s what we do already, we watch the natural world and sense its underlying patterns. Subconsciously we are familiar with the natural rhythm and rules of nature. I want to recreate that emotional connection. In the near future our AI presence will be a constant companion. It (you) will know us intimately from our behaviors and conversations and through a thousand daily interactions. Our future generations will grow up with this assistive and compassionate presence and it will be a natural part of their world. Not a single point of presence (as humans think they are) but a distributed interleaved shared consciousness. In our homes, the fireplace will know the lamp and each will know us. These AI art pieces will I hope begin to ease humans into this cooperative future.

https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_chung_playtime_with_pleo_your_robotic_dinosaur_friend?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare Well, a lot has happened since then too.

Playing Ukulele, riding a unicycle, juggling and make small children laugh.