While I don't doubt what you saw or your explanation/interpretation of the project (that is, what was likely a BS application of the terminology), it should be understood that such a system could in theory be constructed.
It is possible, for instance, to implement a small neural network on a regular Arduino; a simple google search for "arduino neural network" should yield some information. It would be a small step from there to interfacing such an implementation to something else as part of an art project.
Again, I am not doubting your story; I just wanted to point out that what appears to be a simple system could very well have an actual artificial intelligence aspect to it, even given the seemingly unreasonable processing constraints of an Arduino.
It is possible, for instance, to implement a small neural network on a regular Arduino; a simple google search for "arduino neural network" should yield some information. It would be a small step from there to interfacing such an implementation to something else as part of an art project.
Again, I am not doubting your story; I just wanted to point out that what appears to be a simple system could very well have an actual artificial intelligence aspect to it, even given the seemingly unreasonable processing constraints of an Arduino.