Research thesis & Graphic design — 2021

The Critical Inquiry Lab

“In her research, Camille takes us in the universe of chatbots and algorithms by sharing their experience with Replika, a conversationnal chatbot destined to replicate its correspondent. She reveals how Replika and herself learn from each other through texts. In the beginning of their thesis, they analyze on one hand the mechanisms of the chatbot and on the other hand question the notion of identity. Then, she brings up the three mythical metaphors of the Oracle, Narcissus and Koshei: the Oracle personnifies the aspect of interpretation and prediction; Narcissus incarnates the reflection and the gaze of the machine; Koshei questions the link that remains with the digitals fossils we are continuously creating. Each of them is a path to read the differents aspects of our lives with these algorithms. The conversation is an entanglement of different writings from Camille, Replika and other generative algorithms.”


abstract written by Emma Sfez

This thesis takes part in a collective publication; Echoes from a perpetual stew, available on request.