{"674495":{"#nid":"674495","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Teaching AI to Collaborate, not Merely Create, Through Dance","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo children are playing with a set of toys, each playing alone. That kind of play involves a somewhat limited set of interactions between the child and the toy. But what happens when the two children play together using the same toys?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe actions are similar, but the choices and outcomes are very different because of the dynamic changes they\u2019re making with the other person,\u201d says Brian Magerko, Regents\u2019 Professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Literature, Media, and Communication. \u201cIt\u2019s a thing that humans do all the time, and computers don\u2019t do with us at all.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWelcome to the next frontier of artificial intelligence (AI) \u2014 not just generating but collaborating in real-time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMagerko and his colleagues, Georgia Tech research scientist Milka Trajkova and Kennesaw State University Associate Professor of Dance Andrea Knowlton, are putting a collaborative AI system they\u2019ve developed to the ultimate test: the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDance Partner\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/expressivemachinery.gatech.edu\/projects\/luminai\/\u0022\u003ELuminAI\u003C\/a\u003E is an interactive system that allows participants to engage in collaborative movement improvisation with an AI virtual dance partner projected on a nearby screen or wall. LuminAI analyzes participant movements and improvises responses informed by memories of past interactions with people. In other words, LuminAI learns how to dance by dancing with us.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe National Science Foundation-supported project began about 12 years ago in a lab and became an art installation and public demo. LuminAI has since moved into a different phase as a creative collaborator and education tool in a dance studio.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the role LuminAI can play in dance education. As far as we\u2019re aware, this is the first implemented version of an AI dancer in a dance studio,\u201d says Trajkova, who was a professional ballet dancer before becoming a research scientist on the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo prepare LuminAI to collaborate with dancers, the research team started by studying pairs of improvisational dancers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re trying to understand how non-verbal, collaborative creativity occurs,\u201d Knowlton says. \u201cWe start by trying to understand influencing factors that are perceived as contributing to improvisational success between two artists. Through that understanding, we applied those criteria to an AI system so it can have a similar experience with co-creative success.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re working on a creative arc,\u201d adds Trajkova. \u201cSo instead of the AI agent just generating movements in response to the last thing that happened, we\u2019re working to track and understand the dynamics of creative ideas across time as a continuous flow, rather than isolated instances of reaction.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents from Knowlton\u2019s improvisational dance class at Kennesaw State spent two months of their spring semester working routinely with the LuminAI dancer and recording their impressions and experiences. One of the purposes the team discovered is that LuminAI serves as a third view for dancers and allows them to try ideas out with the system before trying it out with a partner.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe classroom experiment will culminate in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/events\/item\/673929\/luminai-performance-collaboration-dance\u0022\u003Ea public performance on May 3 at Kennesaw State\u2019s Marietta Dance Theater\u003C\/a\u003E featuring the students performing with the LuminAI dancer. \u003Ca\u003EAs far as the research team is aware the event is the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile not all the dancers embraced having an AI collaborator, some of those who were skeptical at first left the experience more open to the possibility of collaborating with AI, Knowlton says. Regardless of their feelings toward working with AI, Knowlton says she believes the dancers gained valuable skills in working with specialized technology, especially as dance performances evolve to include more interactive media.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERefined Movement\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo, what\u2019s next for LuminAI? The project represents at least two possible paths for its learnings. The first includes continued exploration about how AI systems can be taught to cooperate and collaborate more like humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWith the advent of generative AI these past few years, it\u2019s been really clear how great a need there is for this sort of social cognition,\u201d says Magerko. \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re going to be getting off the ground is sense-making with large language models. How do you collaborate with an AI system \u2013 rather than just making text or images, they\u2019ll be able to make \u003Cem\u003Ewith\u003C\/em\u003E us.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe second involves the body movements LuminAI has been cataloging and analyzing over the years. Dance exemplifies highly refined motor skills, often exhibiting a level of detail surpassing that found in various athletic disciplines or physical therapy. While the tools designed to capture these intricate movements\u2014through cameras and AI\u2014are still nascent, the potential for harnessing this granular data is significant, Trajkova says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat exploration begins on May 30 with a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/artisticaiperformance\/\u0022\u003Etwo-day summit\u003C\/a\u003E being held at Georgia Tech to discuss its application for transforming performance athletics, with interdisciplinary participants in dance, computer vision, biomechanics, psychology, and human-computer interaction\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003Efrom Georgia Tech, Emory, KSU, Harvard, Royal Ballet in London, and Australian Ballet.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s about understanding AI\u0027s role in augmenting training, promoting wellness as well as diving deep in decoding the artistry of human movements. How can we extract insights about the quality of athlete\u2019s movements so we can help develop and enhance their own unique nuances?\u201d Trajkova says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech and KSU faculty are putting a collaborative AI system they\u2019ve developed to the ultimate test: the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech and KSU faculty are putting a collaborative AI system they\u2019ve developed to the ultimate test: the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance."}],"uid":"36009","created_gmt":"2024-05-02 20:37:34","changed_gmt":"2024-05-10 18:03:49","author":"cwhittle9","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673962":{"id":"673962","type":"image","title":"luminai.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA Kennesaw State University dance student and the LuminAI-powered avatar dance together.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715183949","gmt_created":"2024-05-08 15:59:09","changed":"1715184498","gmt_changed":"2024-05-08 16:08:18","alt":"A Kennesaw State University dance student and the LuminAI-powered avatar dance together.","file":{"fid":"257422","name":"luminai.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/08\/luminai.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/08\/luminai.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1145720,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/08\/luminai.jpg?itok=GEUXa-Vw"}}},"media_ids":["673962"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/events\/item\/673929\/luminai-performance-collaboration-dance","title":"LuminAI: A Performance Collaboration of Dance and AI Event"},{"url":"https:\/\/expressivemachinery.gatech.edu\/projects\/luminai\/","title":"LuminAI Project Page"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"},{"id":"42891","name":"Georgia Tech Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187812","name":"artificial intelligence (AI)"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMegan McRainey\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:megan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emegan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}