"Frankenstein’s Robot: The Creation of Dysfunctional Artificial Intelligence"

This paper explores the intersection of psychology and computer science in AEI development/studies as it relates to an understanding of dysfunction, all the while bridging the gap between a “mechanical” and humanitarian understanding of the topic surrounding artificially intelligent creations and emotions.  

Dysfunction in the artificial intelligence world is a unique opportunity to explore a scientific topic in a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary manner. It seems like almost everyone has something to say about AEI, but Maria Love has something unique to say about AEI.  Her perspective is inherently shaped by the scientific attitude, as she notes the presence of computer science and psychology as having a large presence in her research but allows herself to remain rooted in a human story, the story of madness, illness, and dysfunction. 

Maria Love, a Sophomore, is pursuing an undergraduate degree in International Politics as well as minors in Peace and Justice and Irish studies. She is also a member of the Honor’s Program seeking to graduate with her honor’s track in environmental studies. She is currently abroad in Rome, studying and working as an English tutor to Italian children. Maria’s research paper, which was created for her English learning community course during her Freshman year, has been selected as this year's FYE prize winner. 

Maria produced this research upon identifying a need in the political discourse to “produce dialogue that includes all parties and produces bi-partisan results.” She also has a unique interest in the topic of AEI because of its inherent combinatorial nature of the study of psychology and computer science. It is in this interest that she identified a problem: The psychologists and computer scientists aren’t really speaking to each other in a meaningful way. 

Maria hopes that the reader is able to do the following: “address the discrepancies in the way that psychologists and computer scientists have attempted to 'diagnose' dysfunctional AI to prove that it is necessary to combine expertise from multiple fields and through multiple lenses to properly address multifaceted issues” in digesting her research. She also hopes that “creating research that does combine research from multiple relevant fields will shift the conversation around dysfunctional AI from one that is purely mechanical to one that combines elements of the humanities as well.” It is clear that Maria has a profound love of both the arts and sciences as well as the humanities. This love is coupled with a breathtaking fascination with the human condition and concern within political dialogue– which has produced a thoughtful reconciliation of fields in a new and interesting setting, the very thing that makes us so unique: the expression of our own dysfunction. 

Read Maria’s piece, “Frankenstein’s Robot: The Creation of Dysfunctional Artificial Intelligence,” in the upcoming issue of Inventio's Volume 9!