Some researchers I know at the University of Melbourne have launched a project called Biometric D&D. They’re exploring the assumptions that AIs make about people from a single photo, by asking a facial recognition AI what your D&D character’s stats, class and alignment would be.
The system is now publicly available; you can try it out at www.biometricdnd.com.
I’ve done a little work with them, DMing a short and simple demo game for a livestream with players using characters generated by the AI. They were all performers and their characters turned out to be a bit unusual compared to the bulk of the dataset! I’d love to hear what characters folks end up with, but it’d also help them out to get some more participants.
For those wondering, they have info on the site about what happens with your photo and data; in short, they do keep it if you’re 18 or over for use in the project, but it’s not shared with anyone else. There’s a plain language statement with more detail here: https://www.biometricdnd.com/pls.html
I don't know if I'll "participate," actually pretty sure I won't, but I'm curious to read more about this. This sort of takes an extreme I read in some journalism on AI somewhere when some said a good metaphor of the goal the goal of AI shouldn't be the creation of a chess master but a dungeon master.
Hah. Gave it a shot and my results were mildly insulting. (Image in the spoiler below. Manually blurred the picture for anonymity.)
I ran the program a few times to see how consistent it would be. Here are the results (outliers highlighted):
Trial #1 Face Straight (Neutral): Str 16, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 9, Alignment: CE, Class: Druid Trial #2 Face Straight (Neutral): Str 15, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 10, Alignment: CE, Class: Druid Trial #3 Right Profile (Neutral): Str 15, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 9, Alignment: NE, Class: Druid Trial #4 Face Straight (Smile): Str 10, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 15, Alignment: NG, Class: Bard Trial #5 Face Straight (Frown): Str 16, Dex 9, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 9, Alignment: CE, Class: Barbarian Trial #6 Face Straight (No Glasses; Neutral): Str 16, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10, Alignment: CE, Class: Barbarian Trial #7 Face Straight (Contorted): Str 15, Dex 10, Con 9, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 9, Alignment: CN, Class: Cleric
Smiling seems to have had the most significant impact, but I'm guessing my beard heavily biased the algorithm towards Wisdom/Strength/Evil.
Since the consistently low Int score bruised my ego a bit, I'll just point out that I'll be graduating with a Masters in Computational Engineering next week for giggles, and my glasses were clearly visible in the photos. (Glasses might have modified Wisdom.)
Edit Note: I've previously stated that I would want to be a Druid if D&D were real, so the algorithm at least gets points for that.
I don't know if I'll "participate," actually pretty sure I won't, but I'm curious to read more about this. This sort of takes an extreme I read in some journalism on AI somewhere when some said a good metaphor of the goal the goal of AI shouldn't be the creation of a chess master but a dungeon master.
That's fair enough - obviously they only want willing participants! But they had a panel discussion about the project before we played the demo game, and it will probably be posted publicly some time in the next month (at the moment it's behind the free-account-wall of Melbourne Knowledge Week). Here's an older presentation from the 2021 DiGRA conference that might be of interest:
I have no idea what it's generating the Stats off of, especially the Class and Alignment. I'm the Classic Fun Dad/Uncle, have a degree in Environmental Science. It couldn't possibly have missed the mark more lol.
If I put my safety glasses on and turn my smile up too 11, I boost my Wisdom too 15 (from a 10?!) and become a CN Druid (while maintaining my above average Str and Con from the previous Barbarian result). If you ignore the Alignment suggestions, both would be viable characters.
Can't speak to the alignment assignation but the straight face could be overriding the archetypal Barbarian description of Riverwind in the Dragonlance books.
I'll need to read/watch more but I'm wondering if this is inadvertently a return to phrenology.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Can't speak to the alignment assignation but the straight face could be overriding the archetypal Barbarian description of Riverwind in the Dragonlance books.
I'll need to read/watch more but I'm wondering if this is inadvertently a return to phrenology.
Nothing inadvertent about it, potentially... The project is a way of examining people's reaction to facial recognition systems, and getting folks to question the underlying technology and the assumptions it makes and discuss the ethics of it all by using it for something fun with no real-world consequences. One of the leads on the project, Niels Wouters, was quoted on Twitter as saying "Many people have no idea phrenology is built into many AI-driven applications". The AI in this project is based on one used for a similar previous project, The Biometric Mirror, which you can read about at the Science Gallery.
I was busy prepping for the demo game when the latest talk was on, but they addressed the fact that Intelligence scores and alignment were the most contentious stats, and talked about Chaotic Evil Barbarians as being the biggest single group. Very few participants received any kind of neutral alignment!
So just to be clear: this isn't meant to be taken seriously, except as a provocation to think about how facial recognition and AI that uses it to make assumptions might be deciding things we don't like about ourselves. How we react to the results is as much the point of the project as what the results are. If you've done it, they'd love to hear from you; there's an anonymous survey here: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/3pfi
Was interested in this until the camera was turned on. Now if we were allowed to just upload an image of our choosing then that be different.
If you deny the site access to your camera, it does provide a prompt to upload a photo instead (though the site does erroneously tells you it only works with access to your camera). This was put together for a live installation so people attending are doing it in person using iPads in their booth at Melbourne Knowledge Week.
I'll certainly pass on feedback that some folks would only be interested if uploading a photo of your choice was a more obvious option!
Well, this seems completely arbitrary and has the potential for a social media disaster. :P
All jokes aside though, I'd love to see what they base things on because there is literally no way you can tell by someone's looks (especially if it's just a picture of their face) how wise or dextreous they are. Just for fun I uploaded a picture that I found on a D&D character portrait site. It seems that beards make you strong but also less good? :D
Smiling and not having a beard also seems to do wonders for your soft stats. I googled pictures of the last two former US presidents with "[name] smiling" and "[name] frowning" and this is what they got. Please! No political commentary. I chose these to because they are well known public figures.
Attribute
Value
Strength
9
Dexterity
16
Constitution
9
Intelligence
15
Wisdom
16
Charisma
16
Alignment
Lawful good
Character class
Bard
Attribute
Value
Strength
11
Dexterity
16
Constitution
9
Intelligence
15
Wisdom
15
Charisma
15
Alignment
Lawful good
Character class
Rogue
Attribute
Value
Strength
15
Dexterity
10
Constitution
9
Intelligence
10
Wisdom
15
Charisma
8
Alignment
Chaotic evil
Character class
Cleric
Attribute
Value
Strength
16
Dexterity
15
Constitution
11
Intelligence
11
Wisdom
10
Charisma
10
Alignment
Neutral evil
Character class
Fighter
I have no idea what this means but I thought it was funny as hell. Again, please refrain from any political commentary. It seems though that the biometric website has a strong bias when it comes to smiles and beards. :)
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Some researchers I know at the University of Melbourne have launched a project called Biometric D&D. They’re exploring the assumptions that AIs make about people from a single photo, by asking a facial recognition AI what your D&D character’s stats, class and alignment would be.
The system is now publicly available; you can try it out at www.biometricdnd.com.
I’ve done a little work with them, DMing a short and simple demo game for a livestream with players using characters generated by the AI. They were all performers and their characters turned out to be a bit unusual compared to the bulk of the dataset! I’d love to hear what characters folks end up with, but it’d also help them out to get some more participants.
For those wondering, they have info on the site about what happens with your photo and data; in short, they do keep it if you’re 18 or over for use in the project, but it’s not shared with anyone else. There’s a plain language statement with more detail here: https://www.biometricdnd.com/pls.html
I don't know if I'll "participate," actually pretty sure I won't, but I'm curious to read more about this. This sort of takes an extreme I read in some journalism on AI somewhere when some said a good metaphor of the goal the goal of AI shouldn't be the creation of a chess master but a dungeon master.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Hah. Gave it a shot and my results were mildly insulting. (Image in the spoiler below. Manually blurred the picture for anonymity.)
I ran the program a few times to see how consistent it would be. Here are the results (outliers highlighted):
Trial #1 Face Straight (Neutral): Str 16, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 9, Alignment: CE, Class: Druid
Trial #2 Face Straight (Neutral): Str 15, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 10, Alignment: CE, Class: Druid
Trial #3 Right Profile (Neutral): Str 15, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 9, Alignment: NE, Class: Druid
Trial #4 Face Straight (Smile): Str 10, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 15, Alignment: NG, Class: Bard
Trial #5 Face Straight (Frown): Str 16, Dex 9, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 9, Alignment: CE, Class: Barbarian
Trial #6 Face Straight (No Glasses; Neutral): Str 16, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10, Alignment: CE, Class: Barbarian
Trial #7 Face Straight (Contorted): Str 15, Dex 10, Con 9, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 9, Alignment: CN, Class: Cleric
Smiling seems to have had the most significant impact, but I'm guessing my beard heavily biased the algorithm towards Wisdom/Strength/Evil.
Since the consistently low Int score bruised my ego a bit, I'll just point out that I'll be graduating with a Masters in Computational Engineering next week for giggles, and my glasses were clearly visible in the photos. (Glasses might have modified Wisdom.)
Edit Note: I've previously stated that I would want to be a Druid if D&D were real, so the algorithm at least gets points for that.
That's fair enough - obviously they only want willing participants! But they had a panel discussion about the project before we played the demo game, and it will probably be posted publicly some time in the next month (at the moment it's behind the free-account-wall of Melbourne Knowledge Week). Here's an older presentation from the 2021 DiGRA conference that might be of interest:
Druid? Cool. I've always thought of myself as more of a Paladin or Cleric, but...
High Con and Wis? I'm flattered, that's pretty awesome.
Chaotic Neutral? Wait a second. I am insulted. :-)
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I gave it a shot and got a hilarious result.
For reference, I'm a 5'10", 200 lb Blue collar worker who volunteers at a food bank lol.
This is not something I would be interested in, for one main reason: I don't want to play myself in D&D, I want to play someone different.
Also, I highly suspect the stats which came back would not feel very flattering.
I have no idea what it's generating the Stats off of, especially the Class and Alignment. I'm the Classic Fun Dad/Uncle, have a degree in Environmental Science. It couldn't possibly have missed the mark more lol.
Was interested in this until the camera was turned on. Now if we were allowed to just upload an image of our choosing then that be different.
I tried it with and without my glasses. Turns out without my glasses I'm less dexterous, less intelligent, less charismatic, AND chaotic evil.
BUT I'm also stronger and more...constitution-y? And I was a druid both times
If I put my safety glasses on and turn my smile up too 11, I boost my Wisdom too 15 (from a 10?!) and become a CN Druid (while maintaining my above average Str and Con from the previous Barbarian result). If you ignore the Alignment suggestions, both would be viable characters.
First try: straight face
STR 15
dex 9
con 9
int 9
wis 10
cha 9
chaotic evil barbarian
Second try: smile
same but with str 16 instead
From what I've seen in this thread it overwhelmingly assigns people as CE barbarians, for no reason.
I'm sort of insulted by the low int scores.
On the other hand CE and barbarian? with str 15? honored.
"h"
I'm a bit offended. I'm curious though what they base this on.
Barbarian
Why is everybody Chaotic evil and apparently having a straight face makes you a Barbarian?
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
Alignment is in the eye of the beholder.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Ah, so that's how they generate that anti-magic field.
Can't speak to the alignment assignation but the straight face could be overriding the archetypal Barbarian description of Riverwind in the Dragonlance books.
I'll need to read/watch more but I'm wondering if this is inadvertently a return to phrenology.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Nothing inadvertent about it, potentially... The project is a way of examining people's reaction to facial recognition systems, and getting folks to question the underlying technology and the assumptions it makes and discuss the ethics of it all by using it for something fun with no real-world consequences. One of the leads on the project, Niels Wouters, was quoted on Twitter as saying "Many people have no idea phrenology is built into many AI-driven applications". The AI in this project is based on one used for a similar previous project, The Biometric Mirror, which you can read about at the Science Gallery.
I was busy prepping for the demo game when the latest talk was on, but they addressed the fact that Intelligence scores and alignment were the most contentious stats, and talked about Chaotic Evil Barbarians as being the biggest single group. Very few participants received any kind of neutral alignment!
So just to be clear: this isn't meant to be taken seriously, except as a provocation to think about how facial recognition and AI that uses it to make assumptions might be deciding things we don't like about ourselves. How we react to the results is as much the point of the project as what the results are. If you've done it, they'd love to hear from you; there's an anonymous survey here: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/3pfi
If you deny the site access to your camera, it does provide a prompt to upload a photo instead (though the site does erroneously tells you it only works with access to your camera). This was put together for a live installation so people attending are doing it in person using iPads in their booth at Melbourne Knowledge Week.
I'll certainly pass on feedback that some folks would only be interested if uploading a photo of your choice was a more obvious option!
Well, this seems completely arbitrary and has the potential for a social media disaster. :P
All jokes aside though, I'd love to see what they base things on because there is literally no way you can tell by someone's looks (especially if it's just a picture of their face) how wise or dextreous they are. Just for fun I uploaded a picture that I found on a D&D character portrait site. It seems that beards make you strong but also less good? :D
Smiling and not having a beard also seems to do wonders for your soft stats. I googled pictures of the last two former US presidents with "[name] smiling" and "[name] frowning" and this is what they got. Please! No political commentary. I chose these to because they are well known public figures.
I have no idea what this means but I thought it was funny as hell. Again, please refrain from any political commentary. It seems though that the biometric website has a strong bias when it comes to smiles and beards. :)