Can AI “see” a patient as a person rather than data?
Heartificial Intelligence is an installation at Science Gallery London that investigates the role that technology and community play in the healthcare journey of patients. This interactive installation emerged from a collaboration between TripleDotMakers, Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation Teens (ECHO) – a group of nine young people who have congenital heart conditions and their siblings – and researchers at Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering whose work explores themes of trust, bias and data in AI. Through a series of online and in person workshops, the group discussed the possibilities and limitations of AI research while capturing the process through film and photography.
In the resulting installation, visitors’ body’s rhythms become data inputs for a generative AI. Visitors can place their fingers on a sensor and watch as a series of hearts drawn by the ECHO Teens pulse in sync with their own heartbeat. An accompanying audio piece captures the groups recorded discussions, as they explore whether AI will replace the human relationship with doctors and nurses, or whether AI is simply a tool to support professionals.
Heartificial Intelligence was created by TripleDotMakers in collaboration with ECHO teens and Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering researchers. Commissioned by Science Gallery London, it has been funded by the Wellcome/ EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering and co-ordinated by Alice Taylor-Gee and Bella Spencer, in the centre’s Public Engagement Team.
A huge thank you to all the collaborators involved: Annie Woodson, Jim Dawson, Izzy Pye, Jash Patel, Elizabeth Kirsop, Brianna Kilgannon, Mary Anis, Alfie Warner, Karan Singh Panesar, Ethan Alston, Elise McCarvill, Courtney Devine-Content, Cristobal Rodero, Tareen Dawood, Tiarna Lee, Samantha Johnson, Tania Weekes.
View the behind the scenes film to see how this exhibit was created.
The exhibit is on display at Science Gallery London from June 2023 – January 2024.