LASER: De-colonizing AI Event #3: AI Meets Art by Anubhav Chandla

 LASER: De-colonizing AI Event #3:

 AI Meets Art by Anubhav Chandla

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has completely revolutionized the way humans interact with the world, lifestyles, business structures, and even socio-political spheres. This past week, I attended an event that evaluated the relationship of AI to the progress of art and its cultural influences on the way art is perceived. I highly recommend attending this event as it probed me to understand how AI is influenced by human ideals and biases, thus it may be more human than we think.  

WDCH Dreams AI Art by Refik Anadol

Art includes many disciplines and conversations arise about work from the individual human and collaborations with other technologies. While many are shocked by the usage of AI in the production of art, technology has been assisting in this process for decades. For example, photographers and filmmakers are considered to be artists as they utilize camera and video recorders (Benjamin 4). The mechanization of art goes beyond AI as robots have even assisted in the production of comprehensive pieces, sculptures, canvases, and more. Recently, a debate has risen amongst artists in which the winning of an AI-generated piece caused others to become angry (Roose 2). However, the assistance of technology requires a vision and a level of creativity that is personal to the artist’s identity.

AI Generated European Portraits by the GANs Algorithm

In the panel itself, we had an important discussion of another aspect of AI-generated art. Many of the AI softwares are created in the United States, thus western biases are ingrained within algorithms. For example, one study showed that AI softwares was able to recognize western weddings with brides in white dresses, but not South Asian brides in red (Hao 3). As a result, it is important to train algorithms with diverse images and information to better equip it to be inclusive. By revitalizing standard training systems to include diverse ideals, cultures, and more, AI can assist in progressing other forms of art, not just typical Western forms.

AI Portrait "Europeanizes" a Portrait of Tessa Thompson due to intrinsic bias on representing colored people

This panel was very interesting as many individuals had a technological and artistic background that displayed these fields' intersection. Furthermore, it allowed for reflection as to what art entails, how we perceive mechanized art, and the future of art and technology as a whole. 

Works Cited

Benjamin, W. (2008). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction (J. A. Underwood, Trans.). Penguin Books. 

Hao, Karen. “AI Has a Culturally Biased World View That Google Has a Plan to Change.” MIT Technology Review, https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/02/138843/ai-has-a-culturally-biased-worldview-that-google-has-a-plan-to-change/. Accessed 8 June 2023.

Roose, Kevin. “An A.I.-Generated Picture Won an Art Prize. Artists Aren’t Happy.” The New York Times, 2 Sept. 2022. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html.

Media Links

“Refik Anadol – Artist Profile (Photos, Videos, Exhibitions).” AIArtists.Org, aiartists.org/refik-anadol. Accessed 9 June 2023. 

Proof of Attendance