Analytics and examination of the audience experience within Blast Theory works / AI integration into future Blast Theory artworks

The research question will consider how artificial intelligence technologies support written content creation in interactive artworks to improve and understand audience engagement. The consequent analysis of the audience interaction with the application can expose limitations of the technology that, if addressed, can improve the quality of the human-computer interaction, the trust of autonomous systems and the sharing of personal data and experiences. This analysis can also help understand how people attach meaning and value to digital interactions with autonomously generated written communications and better develop autonomous systems. Another objective of using AI in an art context is to investigate the technology with a critical approach without the constraints of commercial driven decisions and with an openness of unexpected outcomes proper of art exploration and audience interaction. The research aims to understand the dynamics of conversation between a human and an artificial intelligence chatbot in an artistic context that might deliberately position the conversation in an unusual situation, perhaps not comfortable, or highlights aspects usually ignored in similar commercial applications. As art can inspire us to see things differently and encourage exploring new territories, the goal is to communicate a critical message embedded in the art installation and learn more about the technology from the audience interaction with the artwork. This critical approach to technology is partially the foundation of several Blast Theory artworks that often combine live and online engagement with their audience, investigating the tension between the very private and the very public, between direct physical experience and a digital interaction through the Internet and new technologies.

We will collaborate with over 40 partners drawn from across FMCG and Food; Creative Industries; Health and Wellbeing; Smart Mobility; Finance; Enabling technologies; and Policy, Law and Society. These will benefit from engagement with our CDT through the following established mechanisms:

- Training multi-disciplinary leaders. Our partners will benefit from being able to recruit highly skilled individuals who are able to work across technologies, methods and sectors and in multi-disciplinary teams. We will deliver at least 65 skilled PhD graduates into the Digital Economy.

- Internships. Each Horizon student undertakes at least one industry internship or exchange at an external partner. These internships have a benefit to the student in developing their appreciation of the relevance of their PhD to the external societal and industrial context, and have a benefit to the external partner through engagement with our students and their multidisciplinary skill sets combined with an ability to help innovate new ideas and approaches with minimal long-term risk. Internships are a compulsory part of our programme, taking place in the summer of the first year. We will deliver at least 65 internships with partners.

- Industry-led challenge projects. Each student participates in an industry-led group project in their second year. Our partners benefit from being able to commission focused research projects to help them answer a challenge that they could not normally fund from their core resources. We will deliver at least 15 such projects (3 a year) throughout the lifetime of the CDT.

- Industry-relevant PhD projects. Each student delivers a PhD thesis project in collaboration with at least one external partner who benefits from being able to engage in longer-term and deeper research that they would not normally be able to undertake, especially for those who do not have their own dedicated R&D labs. We will deliver at least 65 such PhDs over the lifetime of this CDT renewal.

- Public engagement. All students receive training in public engagement and learn to communicate their findings through press releases, media coverage.

This proposal introduces two new impact channels in order to further the impact of our students' work and help widen our network of partners.

- The Horizon Impact Fund. Final year students can apply for support to undertake short impact projects. This benefits industry partners, public and third sector partners, academic partners and the wider public benefit from targeted activities that deepen the impact of individual students' PhD work. This will support activities such as developing plans for spin-outs and commercialization; establishing an IP position; preparing and documenting open-source software or datasets; and developing tourable public experiences.

- ORBIT as an impact partner for RRI. Students will embed findings and methods for Responsible Research Innovation into the national training programme that is delivered by ORBIT, the Observatory for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT (www.orbit-rri.org). Through our direct partnership with ORBIT all Horizon CDT students will be encouraged to write up their experience of RRI as contributions to ORBIT so as to ensure that their PhD research will not only gain visibility but also inform future RRI training and education. PhD projects that are predominantly in the area of RRI are expected to contribute to new training modules, online tools or other ORBIT services.