“Do you think that decisions made by AI are fair?”
That is one of the many questions that the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts’ fall exhibit poses to viewers who ponder the exhibit’s art, which includes robots, videos and an interactive, arcade-like game.
The machinekind exhibit explores the relationships between humans and artificial intelligence. It is co-curated by Alicia Patterson, an assistant professor of applied philosophy, whose academic focus centers on exploring the ethics of data, privacy and AI.
“(Art) doesn’t necessarily always try to seek to have a clear answer, and I think that for a really, sort of complicated and controversial topic, that’s a really beautiful entry point for a community to start a conversation,” Patterson said.
To try to cultivate these conversations when creating the exhibit, Patterson and co-curator Ashley Stull Meyers sought out artwork that focused on issues surrounding infrastructure, surveillance, bias, power and relationships.
“When a piece of software comes out, people tend not to think too much about the politics of it, if it is useful to them,” Patterson said. “I think we want to sort of invite the viewer into a more critical opportunity, an opportunity to think about something differently.”
Patterson particularly emphasized the need for more discussion about all forms of AI, from generative AI technology such as ChatGPT, to the lesser-known software used in hiring decisions and in determining who gets bail.
“I would like to see more conversations getting to be really clear-eyed about privacy and autonomy and manipulation and power and injustice, (to) have some of these values be the center of the conversation,” Patterson said.
One of the pieces of art at the exhibit is a machine-learning based game, where a pre-test predicts how well someone will perform at “The Game” and gives participants a certain amount of time to complete it based on their results. The game provides more time to complete the task for people it deems more likely to succeed.
Aliaha Anderson, a transfer art student, was looking to do something new and after a professor encouraged students to attend, she went to the exhibit.
Anderson has been concerned about the detrimental impacts of AI on artists’ livelihoods and the environment, and found it different to see the art and AI worlds combine in the exhibit.
“It’s super cool to kind of see them being together in a way where artists are using AI to make art as well, but then also having a message behind it. It’s not just like making it to criticize it; it kind of feels like, ‘How do we move forward?’” Anderson said.
Dakota Roth and Austin Le, first-year computer science and marine biology students respectively, stopped by after seeing the robots to kill some time after studying. Le thought that “The Game” was interesting and explored important concepts.
Roth noted that while he didn’t feel like the target audience for the exhibit, he sometimes finds a need for a detox from hearing about AI, especially in classrooms, and thought the exhibit explored something different.
“It’s less about education here. It’s more about the will, the love. Are we going to use AI as a crush to not just education, but for love and meaning for everything else as well?”
PRAx’s machinekind exhibit will be at the Stirek Gallery until Dec. 13 and is free to visit. Upcoming events associated with the exhibit include a Cupcake with Curators event and guest speakers.
More information about the exhibit and the events can be found on PRAx’s website.
