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Join us for our online seminar series event hosted by MIT Media Lab's Advancing Humans with AI (AHA) research program. This event features Manuel Flurin Hendry, award-winning film director, screenwriter, lecturer and artistic researcher teaching film directing at the Zurich University of the Arts.
"Friendly Fire at the Shrink" is an artistic research project investigating human responses to interactive AI agents. A 3D-printed mask serves as a canvas for a projection-mapped, animated face. User input is captured via camera and microphone, with their speech and facial expressions analyzed for emotional content in real-time. This multimodal data informs a large language model, which generates conversational and emotional responses delivered through synthesized speech and dynamic facial animations via Unreal Engine.
Drawing parallels to Joseph Weizenbaum's pioneering 1960s chatbot ELIZA, our work explores the "ELIZA Effect" – the human tendency to anthropomorphize computational systems and project genuine understanding and emotion onto them. The performance is designed as a contemporary case study to probe these psychological mechanisms. Through semi-scripted, emotionally charged interactions, we observe participants readily ascribing consciousness, history, and feelings to the machine, echoing Weizenbaum's concerns about the power of even simple programs to induce "delusional thinking."
This presentation argues that performance art can serve as a meaningful and ecologically valid methodology for studying the complexities of human-computer interaction and the nuances of aesthetic and emotional engagement. It provides a bridge between scientific inquiry and artistic practice, offering insights into the psychological impact of emerging AI technologies.
Dr. Manuel Flurin Hendry is an award-winning, Cannes-selected feature film director, screenwriter, lecturer, and academic researcher born and based in Zurich, Switzerland. His theatrical feature Papa Moll, produced by Disney Switzerland, sold to more than forty countries. Hendry teaches cinematic arts at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he coordinates the Screen Acting program, and at the International Film School Cologne. As a senior researcher at ETH Zurich, he lectures on AI, algorithmic literacy, and the societal impact of Large Language Models. His research projects investigate the pressures of digital systems on self-perception, visual education, labor relations, and artistic practice in ongoing collaborations with Residenz Theatre Munich, HKAPA Hongkong and the international association of film and media schools CILECT. His work is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF and has been featured in Der Spiegel, Nature Scientific Data and TV stations around the globe.
As a founding member of the art/science tank Silicon Stories and the Swiss Center for Responsible AI (SCRAI), Hendry promotes computational literacy and critique through workshops, art interventions and the art/science festival After The Algorithm. His book The Feeling Machine will be published by De Gruyter in 2026.