Real-Life Robot Dogs Resembling Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Outshine Horror Games
I’ve encountered my fair share of unsettling sights, but this latest one is sure to stick with me for a while. The mere existence of billionaires is disconcerting enough, but witnessing hyper-realistic replicas of their faces on robotic dogs takes it to a whole new level of creepiness.
Artist Mike “Beeple” Winklmann has set up an installation at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie featuring robotic dogs that roam the museum, leaving behind printed photos of their surroundings thanks to built-in cameras. What truly pushes this into nightmare territory is the fact that these dogs sport silicone heads that eerily resemble figures like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. There are also other well-known personalities included, such as artists Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. The images these dogs produce are distorted by AI to mimic the distinctive styles of these artists—so Picasso’s dog generates Cubist photos, while Warhol’s outputs resemble pop art.
This installation serves as a commentary on how influential figures shape our perception of the world. While art has historically been a key medium for interpreting our surroundings, today, tech moguls like Musk and Bezos wield significant control over public perception through their wealth and influence.
Beeple noted, “That’s an immense amount of power that I don’t think we’ve fully understood, especially because when they want to make a change, they don’t need to lobby the U.N. They don’t need to get something through Congress or the EU, they just wake up and change these algorithms.”
Despite its unsettling appearance, the “Regular Animals” installation effectively conveys its message. I’m just relieved these robotic dogs lack animatronic features, sparing us from an additional layer of uncanny valley discomfort. It’s probably for the best that this isn’t in NYC right now; if I encountered a dog resembling Elon Musk in a museum, my instinct would likely be to kick it across the room in sheer panic.
