The status of the self in face of intelligent machines: an analysis of the interactive installation Sophie 1 By Cesar Baio - PUC/SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo) Walmeri Ribeiro - UFC/CE (Federal University of Ceará) Crossing the line between installation and cybernetic art, Sophie uses performance as a starting point for the sensitive encounter between image and visitor, investigating tensions which are currently established among technology, body and image. A review of the most recent media technologies reveals that the current mediation devices, in addition to being means by which we communicate with one another, have become themselves our interlocutors. We are surrounded by a variety of machines, created with complex technology and capable of examining our actions, gathering information on us, deducing our desires and establishing autonomous communicative processes with us. An example of this can be found in the growing amount of viruses, spywares, bots and agents created to “help” us in an increasing number of tasks. This is augmented by the simulated cognitive processes in learning machines which earn certain “sensitivity” capable of analyzing several aspects of our behavior. More than capturing our images and storing all sorts of personal information, they process the collected data in order to create actual interpreters of our actions, gestures and body, thus becoming able to interact with each one of us individually. Therefore, these media devices bring forth ethical and aesthetic issues regarding the relationship between the self, machine and image. Within this this problematic, Sophie seeks to bring forth some of these issues, displacing the relationships between man and machine to the emotional field. How does one deal with machines that can recognize a particular person, learn about their emotions, desires, yearnings and intentions from their body and behavior? What would happen if these machines were not programmed to watch over us and judge if we present a “security” risk, or to present us with an advertisement based on our consumer profile, but to establish singular sensitive relationships with each person individually? Are we at the dawn of time for the “emotional machines”, capable of behaving in a peculiar manner with each individual, just like in Isaac Asimov’s dream? To what extent have new communication technologies been changing our affection? Being in touch with these questions, Sophie proposes a poetic and critical approach to the technologies used for image based automatic identification and classification of individuals, 1 Published in Presence in the Mindfield: art, identity, and the technology of transformation. 1ed. Aveiro/Portugal: Universidade de Aveiro, 2011. p 240-247.