Artificial Intelligence and Emotional Expression

It’s important to remember that we modern humans live in a bubble culture that excludes other points of view and ways of being.

American media has troubling biases baked in. There’s no question that whyte culture is presented as “normal” in ways that not only rob us of exposure to the richness and diversity of humanity in broad terms, but also in ways that exclude folks who can’t pass as ‘normal’ in the Whyte (Caucasian) American mainstream.

AI is only intensifying the dynamic. I’m not nearly as concerned about AI taking away my job as an illustrator as I am about ways in which it will distort our collective view of reality and history.

Below is a link to an article called “AI and the American Smile”. If you didn’t know that there is such a thing as an “American Smile,” then you’ll benefit doubly by reading it.

“In the same way that English language emotion concepts have colonized psychology, AI dominated by American-influenced image sources is producing a new visual monoculture of facial expressions.”

https://medium.com/@socialcreature/ai-and-the-american-smile-76d23a0fbfaf

Here is an article that gives an example of how ethnic bias in facial recognition software impacts folks who aren’t Whyte:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/08/us-immigration-cbp-one-app-facial-recognition-bias

Facial Recognition technology has improved even since this next article was published. But more to the point, it’s difficult to recognize the ways in which machine learning adopts harmful cultural biases until the harm is done.

https://www.wired.com/story/best-algorithms-struggle-recognize-black-faces-equally/

The links I’ve provided help to underscore why it’s so important to study and maintain diverse and pre-modern forms of expression and training for emotional intelligence.

Here is a workshop on how to foster delight being given by a world-famous Kathak dancer Shambhavi Dandekar, meditation teacher Shivani Hawkins, and myself. We’re focusing on the aesthetic model of emotional expression called the Bhavas and Rasas. It had widespread influence across Asia, and deeply informs sacred art of every variety. It is also fundamental to asana yoga practice (all asanas have bhavas).

https://www.livingsanskrit.com/course/rasaretreatonline