If AI were Cephalopod (Single Channel Edit) is a video by 0rphan Drift, which imagines the expansive possibilities of Artificial Intelligence unbound by the limits of human thought processes. The work investigates the remarkably complex cognition of other creatures, speculating on the ways in which artificial consciousness could be embodied in a more-than-human future. Proposing an AI imagination coded by the behaviour of an octopus, If AI were Cephalopod explores alternative forms of experience and perception, posing questions around the rational limits of human self-consciousness. 

A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda such as a squid, octopus or nautilus. These highly intelligent and often shape shifting creatures operate and respond to a wide range of stimuli resulting in a state of consciousness that differs from what we are familiar with as humans. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning (the acquisition of information and rules for using the information), reasoning (using rules to reach approximate or definite conclusions) and self-correction. If AI were Cephalopod acts as a proposition by 0rphan Drift, posing the question of whether it would be better, or more appropriate, to imagine the intelligence of machines in light of what we now recognise as the remarkably complex cognition of other creatures?