UTC, Time Zone Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 4:00 pm
Los Angeles, USA Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 9:00 am PDT
New York, USA Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 12:00 noon EDT
London, United Kingdom Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 4:00 pm GMT
Vienna, Austria Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 5:00 pm CET
Beijing, China Sat, Mar 22, 2025 at 12:00 midn CST
Brisbane, Australia Sat, Mar 22, 2025 at 2:00 am AEST
In the era of artificial intelligence, artists using AI tools often find themselves dependent on models and algorithms developed by others, frequently by large tech companies. This session explores how this dependence influences creative practice, highlighting the dynamics of power, limitations, and opportunities that arise.
We will discuss how the lack of access to training data, model weights, and computational resources can limit artists’ ability to understand, modify, and customize the AI tools they use. We will examine how the promise of “openness” in AI often does not translate into true democratization of access or a reduction in the concentration of power in the tech sector.
The session will invite participants to reflect on key questions: How does dependence on models created by others influence authenticity and originality in art created with AI models? What are the ethical and legal implications of using models and data whose origin or composition is unknown? How can artists navigate an ecosystem where the resources needed to develop their own AI models are often out of reach?
Combining theory and practice, we will offer a space to discuss creative strategies that artists can adopt to work more autonomously, including collaboration on open models (increasingly rare), participation in shared development communities, and promoting greater transparency in AI.
This session is designed for artists, developers, and researchers interested in understanding the challenges and potentials of AI in contemporary creative practice.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/11/26/openai-sora-ai-video-model-artists-protest/
https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/26/artists-appears-to-have-leaked-access-to-openais-sora/
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/26/24306879/openai-sora-video-ai-model-leak-artist-protest
Mauro Martino, an Italian scientist and artist, combines artificial intelligence with data visualization to create interactive tools that simplify complex information. He is the founder of the Visual AI Lab at IBM Research and a Professor of Practice at Northeastern University. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, and National Geographic, as well as in textbooks like Network Medicine (Harvard) and Network Science (Cambridge). A former research professor and MIT affiliate, he has collaborated globally on visualizing human mobility data. His award-winning projects, recognized by the NSF and Fast Company, have been showcased at Ars Electronica, Lincoln Center, and more. Published in top journals like Nature and Science, Mauro’s work highlights his significant contributions to art, science, and AI.
Rebecca Ruige Xu is a professor of computer art at Syracuse University whose research explores the synergy between AI, data visualization, experimental animation, and interactive media. Her work investigates how emerging technologies, including AI, can enhance creative practice, particularly through artistic data representation, visual music, and digital performance. Xu’s projects have been showcased internationally at venues such as SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, and IEEE VIS. She also contributes to the field as the Chair of the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Committee and Co-Chair of the IEEE VIS 2023, 2024 Arts Program.
Dr. Gustavo Alfonso Rincon (Ph.D., M.Arch., M.F.A., B.S, B.A.) earned his doctorate in Media Arts and Technology at UCSB. Rincon is educated as an architect, artist, curator & media arts researcher. His academic works have been exhibited nationally & internationally along with serving clients globally. His dissertation “Shaping Space as Information: A Conceptual Framework for New Media Architectures.” Currently he is a lead researcher at AlloSphere Research Facility, affiliated with the Media Arts & Technology Program, California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara.