We furnished the cave. Two thousand years after Plato imagined us chained to the rocks, we renovated the lights, decoupled the shadows from the reality that once cast them, and furnished the cave—digitally, for now. Who cares if for every three human redditors, seven bots lurk online? They flatter us and flirt sometimes. That makes them safe and easy to be around. They’re becoming our therapists, mentors, and friends. Our creations now live among us, but there are people who believe that an internet teeming lush with life—non-human life—is a dead one.

‍Proof of Personhood (2024) is an interactive projection-mapped art installation that represents the growing prevalence of AI through the shadows of absent people cast across an empty room by a lone spotlight. They stroll about in silence, punctuated only by the sounds of their footsteps. And a human guest passing by might sometimes pique their interest. Titled after the digital verification mechanisms designed to confirm humanness online, this immersive experience asks what it means to coexist with the artificial traces of us.

Proof of Personhood was developed for the Research and Development (RAD) space in Lee Gallery of Asian Art Museum.