B4T2 — our LearningSpaceShip‘s AI (aka “der Bordcomputer”)

“LearningSpace is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s easy to hack an AI-enabled learning object for our lobby, but that’s just peanuts to learning space.”
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy hacked by 42 Berlin

Meet 42 Berlin — a peer2peer learning organization exploring the universe of code and beyond. We are intergalactically passionate about human-tech-interaction and how important it is in a world of software engineering. On a journey to comprehend human language, tech & intelligence of all manifestations better, we set ourselves up for a challenge to explore the future of human-AI interaction.

Hence in the Onboarding Room of our LearningSpaceShip we embarked to build B4T2. Who will evolve over the next 10 years plus to become a vivid example of how an intelligence can develop relationships, become smarter and “mature”. B4T2 is combining today‘s technologies esp machine learning, using open technologies whenever possible. This setup is meant to allow you to experience and co-create this “being” and its evolution.

For its visual appearance we are aiming for a procedural generation. Procedural generation uses various animations, embedded in a content library, a sort of toolbox that it uses to choose, shape its look and design via an algorithm rather than manually creating it.

B4T2 goes beyond what we know from Smart Speakers/Assistants in regards to creativity and interaction. Our AI installation generates creative answers and is embodied in different visual representations. We combine multiple sensory inputs, incorporate and combine the latest tech of Generative AI (e.g. GPT, Stable Diffusion, NLP, image recognition).

This is not just a piece of art nor is it just a tech project — it is a learning, experimental, communal adventure. A bridge between human, tech and the art of co-creation.

B4T2 is was born on Towel Day 2022 (May 25th). It is a baby, please be kind and understanding — it will learn, and learn, and learn and we are confident in a few years you will be truly amazed about its state and what our community of 42 learners achieved.

The code of B4T2 is available at https://github.com/42Berlin/42Berlin_AI.

ProjectTeam
Tech: Denis Özdemir, Tess Santoni, P. Ruiz, A. Castelbou, D. Hadley
Technical Artist: Hadi Beheshti
Concept: Maximilian Rambaek, Max Senges, Stefan Welker