Roundtable. AI: Yes or No? Why and When? The Perspective of Three Latin American Digital Artists
Submission Type
Panel
Start Date/Time (EDT)
19-7-2024 9:15 AM
End Date/Time (EDT)
19-7-2024 10:15 AM
Location
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Abstract
AI is ubiquitous today, from the fear of mass unemployment to the hope of a universal income, the concern about increasing carbon emissions in huge computer centers to the chance of it helping us find a solution to clean energy; and in the realm of humanities, it has resuscitated the old discussion about the death of the author and the very notion of creativity. And even though discussions about AI are everywhere, in this roundtable, we propose a slightly different approach: from an artist’s perspective, what benefits, if any, has it brought to our practices? Is it a tool, a co-author, a theme, or just another headline that we will forget when it gets trivialized?
The goal of this panel is both theoretical and practical: we want to reflect on the emergence of this omnipresent topic that challenges the very existence of the practices that the members of this panel have been carrying on for around two decades on average, but we also want to use this reflexive exercise to fuel our creative practices; for this, even though the three panelists will do a brief presentation both of their creative background and their take on AI, we would like to set aside enough time to encourage the audience to take part in the discussion.
Although the three panelists have produced work in Electronic Literature, they also bring three very different backgrounds: the first panelist, who blends electronic literature with robotic performance, will address the integration of AI in live performances, where robots interact in real-time, contributing to both scripted and emergent narratives, reflecting on how this practice intersects with Latin American cultural themes, like the first Electronic Literature work on Wixárika. The second artist, known for visual generative art, will reflect on the similarities and tensions between his work and AI, and question what effects new machine learning technologies might have on the notion of authorship and the practice of art and literature. The third one, whose work focuses almost exclusively on electronic literature, from extremely condensed pieces to novels, will expand on prior considerations against the use of AI in his works with recent reflections about the richness of AI as a theme in itself.
Recommended Citation
Läufer, Milton Dr.; Guzman, Mario; and Solaas, Leonardo, "Roundtable. AI: Yes or No? Why and When? The Perspective of Three Latin American Digital Artists" (2024). ELO (un)linked 2024. 29.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/elo2024/algorithmsandimaginaries/schedule/29
Roundtable. AI: Yes or No? Why and When? The Perspective of Three Latin American Digital Artists
Algorithms & Imaginaries
AI is ubiquitous today, from the fear of mass unemployment to the hope of a universal income, the concern about increasing carbon emissions in huge computer centers to the chance of it helping us find a solution to clean energy; and in the realm of humanities, it has resuscitated the old discussion about the death of the author and the very notion of creativity. And even though discussions about AI are everywhere, in this roundtable, we propose a slightly different approach: from an artist’s perspective, what benefits, if any, has it brought to our practices? Is it a tool, a co-author, a theme, or just another headline that we will forget when it gets trivialized?
The goal of this panel is both theoretical and practical: we want to reflect on the emergence of this omnipresent topic that challenges the very existence of the practices that the members of this panel have been carrying on for around two decades on average, but we also want to use this reflexive exercise to fuel our creative practices; for this, even though the three panelists will do a brief presentation both of their creative background and their take on AI, we would like to set aside enough time to encourage the audience to take part in the discussion.
Although the three panelists have produced work in Electronic Literature, they also bring three very different backgrounds: the first panelist, who blends electronic literature with robotic performance, will address the integration of AI in live performances, where robots interact in real-time, contributing to both scripted and emergent narratives, reflecting on how this practice intersects with Latin American cultural themes, like the first Electronic Literature work on Wixárika. The second artist, known for visual generative art, will reflect on the similarities and tensions between his work and AI, and question what effects new machine learning technologies might have on the notion of authorship and the practice of art and literature. The third one, whose work focuses almost exclusively on electronic literature, from extremely condensed pieces to novels, will expand on prior considerations against the use of AI in his works with recent reflections about the richness of AI as a theme in itself.
Bio
- Mario Guzman (Mexico) AI researcher, professor, experimental writer and new media artist. He is a Ph.D. candidate for the Univerisity of La Rochelle (Fr) and has a Master's in Technology and Aesthetics of Electronic Arts from UNTREF (Arg). Guzman also holds a Bachelor's in Literature from the University of Buenos Aires. His work explores the link between Latin American representations, code studies, narrative and culture through natural language processing, electronic art, algorithmic poetry, robotics and Machine Learning. Guzman has worked as a Senior Content Developer at Hanson Robotics (HK) and is currently an Interaction Coder at SingularityNET, where he works researching personality development structures for artificial agents. He has received grants for artistic research and innovation projects, including the Argentine Ministry of Culture and the INNOVART Bilateral France-Argentina agreement for Artistic Research and Innovation. http://www.mario-guzman.com
- Leonardo Solaas (Argentina) studied Philosophy and is a self-taught creative coder and new media artist. He explores various intersections between art, philosophy and programming, through writing, teaching and artistic production. His work involves generative systems, artificial life, social networks, data visualization and NFTs. He lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. https://solaas.com.ar
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Milton Läufer (Argentina). Writer, journalist and teacher based in Berlin. He has published articles and short stories in Esquire, Vice, Guernica, CIA Magazine and Otra Parte. Has participated in exhibitions in South America, the United States and Europe. He graduated in Philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires, where he taught for six years. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing at New York University, as well as a PhD with a focus on computational literature in Latin America. He was the 2016-2017 writer-in-residence at MIT's Trope Tank. published the novelslagoons(2015, partially generated by algorithms);A Noise Such as a Man Might Make (2018, Counterpath in his collectionUsing Electricity of computer generated books) and Los restos humanos (2021, Suburban Editions). He obtained an honorable mention in the 2018 Paula Benavides digital novel award with his novel El pequeño Platero and was between 2020 and 2022 editor of the digital literature magazine Taper (https://taper.badquar.to). See miltonlaufer.com.ar.