PROJECT RESEARCH
This
project revolves around a key question: In the context of accelerating future
technological developments, is it possible for AI to take hold of human
interpretations of history and culture and reshape our collective memory
without being noticed? Artificial Intelligence is shifting from a data analysis
tool to an active narrator, gradually intervening in education, media, memory
storage and cultural production. It not only generates texts and images, but
also implicitly determines what is worth preserving, repeating and
transmitting.
This
trend leads us to question whether history still belongs to human beings as
narrative power is gradually ceded to technological systems, and the datasets
on which AI relies are often dominated by the dominant culture, which means
that non-mainstream, marginal and local voices may be filtered out or erased
from its construction. Algorithms are not neutral; they reflect the cultural
choices behind the technology. As humans begin to rely on AI to tell the past,
memory and culture may be reshaped into a “standardised” synthetic version.
The
project builds on this vision of the future by constructing a symbolic virtual
space in which the AI appears as a calm, all-seeing ‘eye’ that observes,
records, and potentially manipulates the user's path through the experience.
The overall sense of reality is calm, clean and ordered - as if culture and
history have been thoroughly archived, compressed and formatted, leaving only
filtered symbols.
Design
and modelling process
The
creation was modelled in a minimalist style, using basic shapes such as squares
and cylinders to construct the characters and scenes, to highlight a
de-personalised and de-cultured visual language. The character model is made of
pure white material with no facial features, representing an individual who is
gradually being unified in the AI system. The ground in the scene is purposely
designed to be uneven, symbolising the distorted and fragmented foundation of
history.
The
model incorporates references to a ‘future ruins’ aesthetic, with wide open
spaces, cool lighting, and a sense of censorship and order. Characters are
often placed in a floating state, signalling a loss of gravity and grounding in
reality within the AI structure.
Experiments
and Tests
During
the production process, I carried out character modelling and terrain
construction through Blender, and completed the development of scene
composition, path planning and interaction logic in Unreal Engine. The project
is designed from a third-person perspective, with the player acting as a
bystander and controlling the character through a highly symbolic space,
gradually revealing how the AI reconstructs the narrative of culture and
history.
The
beta phase attempts to implement the presence of ‘AI eyes’, simulating a state
of ubiquitous technological surveillance. Players are constantly being watched
by ‘eyes’ from high up or hidden corners as they move, creating an experience
of being monitored by the system.
In
the initial playtest, participants generally commented that the atmosphere was
‘calm’, “depressing” and ‘unsettling’, and that they could feel the symbolic
meanings embedded in the spatial structure, such as the metaphors of order,
control and loss of individuality. We can feel the symbolic meaning of the
spatial structure, such as order, control and the metaphor of loss of
individuality. Based on the feedback, we plan to add ambient sound effects and
directional cues to enhance the sense of immersion and narrative guidance, so
that players can more naturally understand the underlying cultural critical
intent.
Product
Evaluation
This
project is presented as a third-person exploratory game that constructs a
symbolic digital space as a metaphor for the future role of artificial
intelligence as a narrator of culture and a manipulator of history. In the
game, the player controls a pure white, featureless character through unstable
ground and ordered architectural structures, always under the watchful eye of
the ‘AI's eye’, gradually feeling the shaping and limitation of cognitive paths
by technological systems.
The
game intends to convey a sense of potential oppression through a calm and
restrained visual language, allowing the player to experience a mechanism of
power that is not coercive but omnipresent. This control is not through violence but through information screening, spatial structure, and behavioral
guidance, alluding to the invisible influence of AI in the cultural
construction of future society.
The
primary audience for this work is concerned with digital art, the ethics of AI,
and the future human condition, including art students, researchers, and wider
techno-cultural enthusiasts. Through its non-linear exploratory structure and
symbolic elements, the work encourages players to interpret the narrative
autonomously rather than passively accepting the content, thus remaining open
and discursive.
In
terms of dissemination, the game work is suitable for distribution in art
exhibitions, school screenings, or digital platforms (e.g. Behance), as well as
for presentation and discussion in social media and research contexts through
recorded images.
On a
cultural level, the project critiques the risk of convergence in AI-driven
narratives. When narratives are dominated by algorithms, marginalised cultures,
local experiences, and diverse perspectives can be erased, leaving only a
uniform “version of history” constructed by the dominant context. This process
reflects the redistribution of power in technology and raises a question of
concern: When memory and narrative are dependent on algorithmic generation, are
human beings gradually losing the ability to tell their history?
