Sweet Data (2019) is an installation artwork that seeks to foreground and provide a tangible embodiment of the Faustian bargain we all make in our exchange of personal data for the use of convenient online services. It investigates both the data economy and transparency in algorithmic decision making. The piece contrasts an enticing and traditionally care-free vending machine with the surveillance of an all-seeing digital camera, while leveraging the aesthetic of early flashing web-adverts to tempt the audience into exchanging their personal data for the chance to get a sweet. Using 'artificial intelligence', the artwork asks the customer to consent to having their picture taken, and in exchange the machine will determine if they are eligible for a free sweet. Whether or not a sweet is offered, the machine provides a receipt for the audience to explain its obfuscated decision-making process.

Sweet Data (2019) is an installation artwork concerned with the data economy and transparency in algorithmic decision making. The piece contrasts an enticing and traditionally care-free vending machine with the surveillance of an all-seeing digital camera, while leveraging the aesthetic of early flashing web-adverts to tempt the audience into exchanging their personal data for the chance to get a sweet. It seeks to foreground and provide a tangible embodiment of the Faustian bargain we all make in our exchange of personal data for the use of convenient online services. Using 'artificial intelligence', the artwork asks the customer to consent to having their picture taken, and in exchange the machine will determine if they are eligible for a free sweet. Whether or not a sweet is offered, the machine presents assumptions about the user and provides a receipt for the audience to explain its obfuscated decision-making process and how it reached its decision. The receipt, however, explains the decision-making process in programmatic code, raising further questions around what constitutes a suitable explanation for technology and algorithmic decision-making for a public with varying levels of digital literacy.

Sweet Data is created entirely inside a gumball dispensing machine, with the coin mechanism replaced by a touchscreen and all hardware contained within the original gumball machine's body. The piece is powered by a Raspberry Pi, for the webcam and thermal printer, and an Arduino, for the two servo motors. The Pi runs a Processing script which outputs the visualisations to the display and receives user inputs from the touchscreen. It also processes the camera data. The Processing script has a serial connection to the Arduino, which passes data to the Arduino to determine when the webcam should "search" and look around the space, and when it should "focus" on a user standing in front of the machine. It also determines when and how much to dispense from the dispensing servo. Conceptually, the piece was developed over a few months after conducting interviews with young people (15 - 18) regarding their knowledge of technology, data collection, algorithmic decision making and the data economy. The artwork was created to highlight the importance of educating this age-group in data management, as they move into adulthood.

The piece weighs 3kg (6kg when full of sweets). It is 140cm tall and has a floor diameter of 50cm. It requires an open space in front for the interaction, and has three power cables from the rear that require mains connections. It is free-standing but can be bolted to the floor for added security.