Cute or creepy, that is the question of liveness: can artificial actors perform live?

Abstract

This paper examines the liveness of the performative acts of technologically simulated or synthesized agents in interaction with humans. It questions the ability of artificial performers to construct a sense of live presence on stage and in other daily performative scenarios and evaluates our perception of liveness in those contexts. In this critical and comparative analysis, I study the live quality of Hatsune Miku’s live musical performances – a computer-generated cyber celebrity with a three-dimensional holographic body and an artificially synthesized singing voice – and the stimulating interactions of PARO, the seal – an adorable therapeutic cuddle-robot utilized as an emotional companion in nursing homes and hospitals. Using performance and media theories, I examine the audience/users’ affective responses and engagement quality with the holographic singer and the robotic pet, directly leading to the acceptance or rejection of the claim to the liveness of these techno-actors. This research also evaluates the impact of the application of cuteness (or kawaii) in designing non-human agents versus the emergence of creepiness in interactions with their incorporeal bodies on our emotive response. The objective is to study the difference between the liveness and aliveness of non-human, non-living performing agents and the impact of evoking the sense of “cute” versus “creepy” on warping the Uncanny Valley Curve.