Great art has, since time immemorial, strived to push boundaries, to question our views, our perspectives, and our understanding of reality. But the last two years have seen a drastic shift in the industry, as an increasing number of artists are using AI as their medium—for creating 2D images, synthesizing deep fake videos, and designing immersive experiences.

What if AI could predict how long you would live just by listening to your voice? Perhaps it could hear the tremor in your speech, and foresee that you may be weakening and approaching the end of your life. What might your doctor do with all this information?

Population estimates show that, by 2060, 23% of all U.S. residents will be aged 65 and older, while 4.7% will be 85 and older. The cost of meeting their healthcare needs has driven researchers and clinicians across private and public sectors to find ways to better assess the pace of aging in older adults.

Stephanie Dinkins, a Stony Brook Arts Professor and transmedia artist who works at the intersection of emerging technologies and social collaboration, was named an “Innovator” on this year’s TIME 100 AI list. Her name appeared alongside renowned industry leaders and stalwarts, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Demis Hassabis, CEO and Co-Founder of Google DeepMind; Elon Musk, Founder of xAI; Geoffrey Hinton, Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto; and former SBU Computer Science faculty member Yejin Choi.

Not everyone likes having their beliefs challenged. It makes us feel threatened on a deeply personal level and compels us to seek consistency, so we can continue to function with sanity in this ever-changing, chaotic world.

Take a meat lover, for example, who agrees that animal cruelty is wrong but goes on to include fish and pork ribs in his diet. Or a person who cannot stop smoking even after knowing that it is harmful to their health.

Coping with contradictory ideas — also known as cognitive dissonance — can be mentally stressful, and people tend to find consistency by rationalization (accepting new information), confirmation (sticking with old ideas), or blindly believing whatever they want to believe.