Queering Artificial Intelligence as a Subversive Strategy of Creating Generative Literature. A Case Study of Ultimate Fantasy by Emily Martinez and Sarah Ciston
Submission Type
Paper
Start Date/Time (EDT)
18-7-2024 4:45 PM
End Date/Time (EDT)
18-7-2024 5:45 PM
Location
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Abstract
The main goal of this paper is to examine queering artificial intelligence (AI) as a subversive strategy of creating generative literature. Queering is a form of interacting with technology well-established within the queer community, one that challenges (hetero)normative dominant values (Attard-Frost 2024). There is a great need for such inclusive practices in regard to AI as these systems can perpetuate and amplify the biases apparent in data used to train them which could lead to increased discrimination towards LGBTQ+ people (Fosch-Villaronga, Malgieri 2024).
So far, research on artistic examples of queering AI has been mainly focused on audiovisual artefacts, therefore the textual forms created by queering machine learning remain largely unexplored. With the intention of filling this research gap, I propose a study of Emily Martinez and Sarah Ciston's Ultimate Fantasy (https://unsupervisedpleasures.com/texts). Ultimate Fantasy is a collection of literary texts that were generated between 2020 and 2022 using Queer AI, a small language model trained on a corpus of queer texts compiled by Ben Lerchin.
My analysis of Ultimate Fantasy aims to explore strategies of queering AI implemented by the artists and how they are reflected in the form of texts and motifs apparent in them. On this basis, I seek to demonstrate how tactics of queering technology such as circumventing censorship and glitching (Gaboury 2018) influence strategies of queering AI understood as a means for creating e-literature. The study of Ultimate Fantasy allows for framing this practice as a subversive act of an emancipatory nature and an instance of queer utopian project (Muñoz 2009).
Selected references
Attard-Frost, B. (2024). Queering intelligence. In: Klipphahn-Karge, M.; Koster, A.-K., dos Santos Bruss, S. (Eds.). Queer Reflections on AI Uncertain Intelligences. Routledge.
Fosch-Villaronga, E.; Malgieri, G. (2024). Queering the ethics of AI. In: Gunkel, D. (Ed.) Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming.
Gaboury, J. (2018). Critical Unmaking: Toward a Queer Computation. In: Sayers, J. (Ed.). The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities. Routledge.
Muñoz, J. (2009). Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York University Press.
Recommended Citation
Jędrusiak, Danuta, "Queering Artificial Intelligence as a Subversive Strategy of Creating Generative Literature. A Case Study of Ultimate Fantasy by Emily Martinez and Sarah Ciston" (2024). ELO (un)linked 2024. 10.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/elo2024/algorithmsandimaginaries/schedule/10
Queering Artificial Intelligence as a Subversive Strategy of Creating Generative Literature. A Case Study of Ultimate Fantasy by Emily Martinez and Sarah Ciston
Algorithms & Imaginaries
The main goal of this paper is to examine queering artificial intelligence (AI) as a subversive strategy of creating generative literature. Queering is a form of interacting with technology well-established within the queer community, one that challenges (hetero)normative dominant values (Attard-Frost 2024). There is a great need for such inclusive practices in regard to AI as these systems can perpetuate and amplify the biases apparent in data used to train them which could lead to increased discrimination towards LGBTQ+ people (Fosch-Villaronga, Malgieri 2024).
So far, research on artistic examples of queering AI has been mainly focused on audiovisual artefacts, therefore the textual forms created by queering machine learning remain largely unexplored. With the intention of filling this research gap, I propose a study of Emily Martinez and Sarah Ciston's Ultimate Fantasy (https://unsupervisedpleasures.com/texts). Ultimate Fantasy is a collection of literary texts that were generated between 2020 and 2022 using Queer AI, a small language model trained on a corpus of queer texts compiled by Ben Lerchin.
My analysis of Ultimate Fantasy aims to explore strategies of queering AI implemented by the artists and how they are reflected in the form of texts and motifs apparent in them. On this basis, I seek to demonstrate how tactics of queering technology such as circumventing censorship and glitching (Gaboury 2018) influence strategies of queering AI understood as a means for creating e-literature. The study of Ultimate Fantasy allows for framing this practice as a subversive act of an emancipatory nature and an instance of queer utopian project (Muñoz 2009).
Selected references
Attard-Frost, B. (2024). Queering intelligence. In: Klipphahn-Karge, M.; Koster, A.-K., dos Santos Bruss, S. (Eds.). Queer Reflections on AI Uncertain Intelligences. Routledge.
Fosch-Villaronga, E.; Malgieri, G. (2024). Queering the ethics of AI. In: Gunkel, D. (Ed.) Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming.
Gaboury, J. (2018). Critical Unmaking: Toward a Queer Computation. In: Sayers, J. (Ed.). The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities. Routledge.
Muñoz, J. (2009). Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York University Press.
Bio
Danuta Jędrusiak is a Master’s student at Jagiellonian University, where she is pursuing degrees in Polish Studies and Philosophy. Her interests include generative literature, queer approaches to computation, and ethics of artificial intelligence. Her MA thesis will examine AI-generated texts through the lens of narratology.