Assignment: An open-ended, self-directed graduation project spanning half an academic year.
Building on the research from my internship project, Bias by
Design, Jonna van Galen Last (my partner thoughout this project) and I initially set out to build a
project around the theme AI bias. However, as our research progressed, we realized a deeper root cause:
people's uncritical trust in AI. We shifted our focus to the AI-Trust Paradox; the phenomenon where users
trust AI even if they know it should not (always) be trusted. Ultimately, our goal evolved from simply
pointing out AI's flaws to creating an experience that empowers users to trust their own intelligence
and intuition before mindlessly reaching for AI.
Whitin the process of realising this project, Jonna was the creative technologist and interaction designer, and
I took the roles of creative maker and visual designer.
OBJECTIVE: ACTIVATE ALL LIGHTS is a theatrical, interactive installation built around an imposing
20th-century style control desk and an octagonal display. Designed to mirror the intimidating
authority of historical control rooms (such as Chernobyl's Control Room 4) and inspired by the
psychological pressure of the Milgram Experiment, the installation forces players to solve a puzzle
where they can choose to interact with Alissa, our custom AI assistant. By deliberately provoking
cognitive dissonance and frustration through unexpected changes and gaslighting, the installation directly
confronts users with their over-reliance on digital tools and helps them think differently about the way they
would use AI in the future.
The installation was first shown at the
Now Show, an exhibition organized by St. Joost School of Art & Design in Breda, in which
Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD) participated for the very first time.
The project got a lot of traction during the show, opening up great conversations and connections with, among
others, Gemeente Breda, where we will show our work at the
AI in de Stad event and
Manifestations (the tech-art exhibition at
Dutch Design Week), which
we will be attending with our project, standing in Het Veemgebouw in Eindhoven on the 8th floor.
