We still haven’t confirmed it they dream of electric sheep, but thanks to a new MIT initiative, we now know what androids see in their nightmares.
Just in time for Halloween, MIT’s Media Lab launched a website called the Nightmare Machine that displays computer-generated images which were created using a deep-learning algorithm. The “high perceptual quality” images — which include haunted faces and landmarks made to look like slaughterhouses and ghost towns — are meant to create “a visceral emotion like fear.”
“Can machines learn to scare us? We use state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms to learn what haunted houses, or toxic cities look like,” according to the researchers. “Then, we apply the learnt style to famous landmarks and present you: AI-powered horror all over the world!”
The haunted images aren’t quite as freaky as the new season of Black Mirror, but they’re close.
Meet your guide
More Like This
This article appeared in an InsideHook newsletter. Sign up for free to get more on travel, wellness, style, drinking, and culture.
