Mr Fusion or Johnny 5? Visual Rhetoric of AI Design

Abstract

This chapter explores what artificial intelligence (AI) intellectual property (IP) owners do in their promotional material to negotiate public distrust of AI. A separation can be observed between the aesthetics and ethics of digital product design where simplified visual design appears to mask the complexity of AI-enabled devices, and systems. These observations can apply to the graphic design and corporate verbal rhetoric surrounding AI-enabled products. In this chapter, AI visual rhetoric is compared to science fiction aesthetics. Examples of masking complexity are described as visual echoes of the ‘Mr Fusion’ design from Back to the Future, while the few AI designs which declare their complexity more openly are described as reflecting ‘Johnny 5’s’ design from Short Circuit. The authors delve into the nexus between the user experience (UX) of autonomous technology, its communication design, and the visual aesthetics used in its promotion as an emerging force.