By Sarah-Nicole Jackson

“Keep moving,” says a voice in your ear, identifying herself as Ada. “Try to blend in. When others stop, you stop. When they move, you move.”

Under the veil of night, you walk through streets where cameras tower above you every few feet. It is important that you do not stop under these cameras or look directly at them, Ada says. 

Ada herself was part of a team that created a special system of surveillance technology. “In the beginning, we said it was to increase public safety,” Ada said. However, like technology does, it adapted. Began identifying patterns and those who broke them. Someone circling the same block one too many times. Someone pausing in the middle of the street. Eventually, breaks in routine began to be recognized as threats.

Finally, you reach the destination that Ada has given you. What happens next remains to be seen. 

This is all part of a video game demo created this year by artist Mark Cinkevich. Simply played with a pair of headphones and a single Xbox controller, the demo is part of a larger piece titled ‘Militarized Urban Futures’ that you can find on display at Galerie Rudolfinum as part of the current ongoing exhibition ‘DATAS: The Data and the Sovereign.’ 

‘DATAS’ is just one example of how people are coming to terms with our current age of advanced technology. Technological advances can be beneficial, but they can also be harmful as well, as showcased in ‘Terror Element’, a fictional short film created by Anna Engelhardt and Mark Cinkevich that confronts the role of forensic science in false terrorism charges. This short film is also part of the exhibition, showcased on a small analog TV screen in a stark white room.

The artists behind ‘DATAS’ are not the only ones contemplating technology’s impact on reality. Theologian František Štěch is interested in what artificial intelligence does to our humanity.

“AI creates the environment we are living in,” Štěch said. “We need to treat it as a landscape.”

He sees landscapes as things that shape our memories, identities, and relationships, and says that artificial intelligence feeds into these things as well. 

Štěch currently teaches at Charles University in Prague. Here, he has studied theology as it relates to advanced technologies. He remarked that dataism may become a new form of religion. 

He asserts, however, that there are still limitations to what artificial intelligence can do.

“AI can generate a prayer, but it cannot genuinely pray for you,” Štěch said. “These technologies are not God’s creation. They are human creations.” 

The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Czech Republic, drafted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, describes artificial intelligence as “the future”, imagining smart programs, robots in factories, algorithms in banks, self-driving cars, and other various machines. 

They acknowledge the anxieties surrounding artificial intelligence, stating, “Already these robots are giving rise to issues of safety, ethical values, and risks of abuse,” and saying that finding solutions to these issues is a “national priority”. 

At the same time, they want to “build AI research centres of European importance” and become a “model country” of all Europe. Organized into seven chapters, this extensive plan aims to implement artificial intelligence systems into daily life and operations and eventually take these advancements global. However, in many countries around the world, citizens have concerns about artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to their data.

A 2023 report from the Pew Research Center revealed that many Americans are concerned about data privacy with the rising prevalence of artificial intelligence. This survey revealed that a majority of American adults expected the usage of AI in data collection to lead to unintended consequences and public discomfort. 81% of Americans said they believed their information will be used in ways they would not be comfortable with. 

Štěch has hope that if humanity can utilize artificial intelligence well, it will lead to a brighter future. In his eyes, people need to be educated more on what the technology will do and find a middle ground between the dangers and potential of artificial intelligence.

“What we do to places will also be done to us,” Štěch said. “If we use it well, then there is a chance we can shape our environment well.”