Agent Ruby by Lynn Hershman Leeson

An important example in the development of AI art by Lesson, Agent Ruby (1998–2002), commissioned by SFMOMA, grew out of the expanded cinema experience from Leeson’s film Teknolust. This interactive, multiuser artwork features Ruby—a web agent with a female persona based within a website mimicking the lab of the film’s characters, Rosetta Stone and Agent Ruby.

Users to this day can engage with Ruby, who responds to inquiries with varying expressions and moods that adapt based on her interactions and web traffic. Continually learning, Ruby searches the internet to augment her knowledge, evolving her responses and capabilities over time. The work stands as a clear predecessor to today’s LLM AI chat bots. Agent Ruby makes clear the relationship between art and the development of AI.