What if artificial intelligence systems were built differently? How might they function if they were modeled not on human intelligence, but rather on plant intelligence?
Aroussiak Gabrielian, who is assistant professor of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism at the USC School of Architecture and founding director of the Landscape Futures Lab, posed that very question to an audience of 500 in her talk at USC’s “Beyond the Human?: From the Metaphysical to the Physical” symposium in September.
But this inquiry into reimagining our socio-ecological and technological systems has been driving her teaching, research and creative work for several years. Also an affiliate faculty member of Media Arts + Practice at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Gabrielian works at the intersection of landscape architecture and media arts, but always with a focus on the environment. Her exploration of AI systems has resulted in a Google research project, new architecture courses, art exhibits, a new software design and more.
“The forms of intelligence that I work with are actually natural,” Gabrielian said. “I study the intelligence of plant life, fungi, insects, bacteria and other kinds of living organisms and natural systems, both at the scale of biology and ecology and beyond.”
At the heart of her study is a desire to activate our imaginations, “to help us rethink our interactions with both human and non-human agents on this planet,” with the goal of encouraging collaboration and the development of more ethical models for living.