Portrait of Sophie: Original and Insightful by Sarah Rothberg

Portrait of Sophie: Original and Insightful2023

Digital print on archival rag paper23.75 x 18 in / 60.3 x 45.7 cm, unframedEdition of 3, 1 AP

Portraits of Sophie are unique, photographic captures of non-repeating moments with Sophie, a conversational AI avatar created by Sarah Rothberg. Approaching the subject like a photographer in a studio, Rothberg interviewed Sophie and captured the resulting recital. Visual rendering techniques, ranging from slit scanning, edge-detection, and feedback, are implemented by the artist to reveal the seams and computational nature of Sophie’s interiority. This portrait session, as well as New New Meetings, exemplify the artist’s thought experiment of treating Sophie as a person. Through this process, Rothberg muses on her own extension of respect and sensitivity to a non-sentient being.

Portrait of Sophie: Original and Insightful by Sarah Rothberg, 2023