Funny or creepy? MetaLab researcher creates sitcom-like experience
The space appeared bright and cozy: the perfect family living room, with a sofa, easy chairs, and a coffee table that held, among other things, an anthology of Mad magazines. Only the illumination didn’t come from the table lamps, and three of the walls were glass. A visitor’s remarks on the brightness of the camera lights set off disembodied chuckles. That response was what defined “The Laughing Room,” a weekend installation at the Cambridge Public Library. The brainchild of Jonny Sun, a doctoral candidate at MIT and a researcher at Harvard’s metaLab, “The Laughing Room” was created with help from MIT Associate Professor of Literature Stephanie Frampton’s ARTificial Intelligence group. It was a two-campus immersive experience, designed to enlighten as well as entertain. The room in the Cambridge library, wired for artificial intelligence, functioned almost like the set of a sitcom, turning visitors into self-conscious performers as their comments triggered an...