Embodied Cognition
The body not only conveys identity, but also influences how that identity is understood.
Digital human study / 01
Same AI,
Different
Person
Four bodies. One mind.
A study of how appearance reshapes identity.
01 / Overview
The same intelligence enters four bodies.
Same AI, Different Person is an interactive digital artwork exploring how the same LLM system is perceived differently when embodied in different digital bodies. Four MetaHuman characters share an identical AI system, personality, memory and conversational behaviour. Only their physical appearance changes.
Through audience encounters, the project investigates how embodiment shapes identity, personality and social perception.
02 / Film
The encounter
03:54 · sound on
03 / Experiential narrative
The name “Alex” exists, but does not actively appear.
Alex exists in four different bodies.
They don’t remember the same experiences.
They speak without the same voice.
They might hold the same beliefs.
Yet visitors often describe them as four different people.
The work asks whether identity belongs to the mind, the body, or the observer.
04 / Questions
Who are you seeing?
- 01
How is personal identity constructed?
- 02
Can the same mind become a different person through a different body?
- 03
How much do we project onto digital humans?
- 04
How do age and gender influence first impressions?
- 05
When does an AI begin to feel like a person?
- 06
Can relationships with artificial people be shaped by appearance alone?
05 / Philosophical influences
Identity is not encountered in isolation.
Phenomenology
The encounter between humans and digital beings is a process that is perceived and experienced.
Social Construction of Identity
Identity does not exist in a fixed form. It is formed through interaction.
Goffman’s Presentation of Self
Personality is continuously constructed through social interactions.
The Uncanny
Realism and strangeness jointly shape the perceived existence of digital beings.
06 / Artistic + technological integration
One system.
Four embodiments.
Four MetaHuman bodies are connected to the same conversational AI character. The underlying personality, memory and conversational behaviour remain constant while visible embodiment changes.
The controlled structure becomes both the artwork and its method: an encounter in which the audience’s reading of age, gender, expression and physical presence completes the identity on screen.