Twelve glowing figures of humans stand still, their heads tilted down, as they appear to descend the stairs of an outdoor performance space in Downtown Crossing.
Passersby, normally used to hearing music played from the space, slow their pace. Many lift their cellphones to snap photos and stare back.
The piece, titled Artificial Humans, is one of 18 eye-catching installations brightening up Boston as part of Winteractive, a public art exhibition organized by the Downtown Boston Alliance.
“Public art is about changing your day,” said Michael Nichols, the alliance’s president, in an interview. “It’s about pulling your head out of your phone.”
Artificial Humans does that by reflecting the very behavior it depicts. The AI generated installation was created by Atelier Haute Cuisine, a Belgian art and design studio founded in 2009 by Bernd Tyskens and Benny Conings.
“We act like chefs,” Conings wrote in an email to the Globe. “Not because we cook, but because we combine ingredients like materials, light, space, objects, narrative and intuition. Elements that on their own may seem unrelated, but together form a greater whole.”
Originally created for the 2023 Amsterdam Light Festival, Artificial Humans explores the relationship between humans and technology. Boston is the first place the installation is being shown in the United States.
Rather than critiquing technology from a human perspective, the artists wanted to ask how technology might see humans, Conings said. Using DALL▪E, an AI tool, the artists generated an image of figures bent forward, staring into their hands.
“It immediately resonated with us,” Conings said. “It strongly resembled what we often observe in public space today: people absorbed by the screens of their smartphones.”
The image became the blueprint for the installation, but the final work was grounded in human labor. The artists made fiberglass molds of their own bodies, embedding themselves physically into the sculptures.
“It was important for us to bring the human element back into the work,” Conings said.
For Nichols, the power of the installation lies in its openness to interpretation.
“Probably, most viewers of this artwork won’t stop and read the paragraph that the artists put together about the artwork,” he said. “They’ll see it and interpret it themselves.”
Rob Tartaglia, a New Jersey resident visiting Boston for work, said the installation looked almost ethereal.
“They sort of look a bit forlorn,” Tartaglia said. “Sad and not aware of what’s around them, kind of like how a lot of people are.”
For Rebecca Geisberg, a Boston University senior majoring in computer science, the installation looked eerie.
“It looks dystopian,” Geisberg said.
Not everyone is comfortable with AI’s role in art.
Peter Neuenschwander, who recently moved to Boston from North Carolina, said human creativity cannot be replicated by technology. However, he does think the installation represents AI’s perception of human behavior.
“I don’t think the piece is without taking a lesson from,” he said. “It can indicate something that can be found or can be seen in us and our interactions.”
According to Conings, reactions to the piece often depend on the amount of information people have.
“We do receive comments along the lines of “that must have been easy,” he said. “They often shift once we explain the conceptual and physical labor involved in translating that initial AI-generated image into a tangible, human-made installation.”
Now in its third year, Winteractive runs through March 29. The 18 installations across downtown by various artists include light-up seesaws; sea creature tenacles; six “googly eyes” officially known as “Big Others,” and more.
Whether viewers see Artificial Humans as beautiful or uncomfortably familiar, the installation succeeds in turning heads as people taking a second look.
“I saw this and I wanted to take a picture.” said Sophia Lam, of Sharon, as she paused in her walk around Boston. “I think it’s really pretty. I think Boston should include more installations like this.”
Aayushi Datta can be reached at aayushi.datta@globe.com.