Page 349 - The Black Box Book

mathematically minimized. (Joler, V. & Pasquinelli, M., 2020) Although voted to the output of publicly accessible engines for generating photos
the process of reduction is commonly performed by human intelligence using machine learning algorithms are teeming with stereotypical content.
as well. However, it should be borne in mind that reduction is not only On the other hand, according to Manovich, the same trends might
a necessary and expedient process, but also a highly delicate, aggressive, also boost diversity due to the global availability of local cultural DNA.
and violent process, because in the process we eliminate informational (Manovich, 2018) However, we must remember that these are cultural
and alternative possibilities. However, learning algorithms always make objects that have been picked and modified to be moved to the digital
the most average connection between the most averagely understood online world and then re-distributed – in the form of a selection – only to
terms of various categories and the most averagely understood visual those with modern digital gadgets and internet access.
representation, and they do it very fast and in enormous numbers. Slavoj Žižek, in his famous Pokémon Go metaphor, emphasizes
This technology’s products essentially meet all the criteria for kitsch. that the reality we live in is far more a product of fantasy than rational
(Kulka, 2002) Individually created and selected images do not provide knowledge (Žižek, 2017, November 7) But before we utilize algorithms to
the strongest visual experience; rather, the output of this technology as inject new ‘fantasy items’ into our reality, we must acknowledge that our
a whole produces a sensation of immanent familiarity, a déjà vu of Western horizon is already filled with a variety of products of our fantasy. In a figu-
culture.It makes it possible to make souvenirs out of images of the re- rative sense, the world is already overrun with Pokémon. We are currently
cent, digitalized, selective present. But the promise of unlimited creation immersed in the products of a dominant subjectivity and its imagina-
cannot be fulfilled. The dream of infinite possibilities literally turns here tion. If we, as authors and artists, wish to participate in the formation of
into a nightmare of imagination. Images produced by Midjourney look fa- the world, we are not limited to merely superimposing more and more
miliar not only because they combine and syncretize familiar images into objects on top of those that already exist. We can concentrate on rec-
surrealist fusions, but also because we have long been accustomed to ognizing, exposing, and removing them from our line of vision. The iden-
surrealist assemblages and postmodern fusions from our media experi- tification of these artifacts is invariably a creative endeavor that takes
ence. We live in a culture of constant visual oversaturation. The products focused attention and bold imagination.
of text-to-image engines are just another highlight of this process.
Learning algorithms offer the development of creativity. But I D I O T S
the question is what kind of creativity, and under what conditions, could
we consider this powerful combinatorics of data and categories to be What is then the role of art in a space defined by digital technologies
a creative tool. Indeed, some of the promises are turning out to be false. and artificial intelligence? And why might it be interesting to ask wheth-
One important example is the dissolution of the dream of the assumed and er artificial intelligence has a sense of humor? In the summer of 2019,
computationally documentable success of rapper FN Meka. This artificial the curatorial collective ScreenSaverGallery, consisting of Barbora Trnková,
musician resembling a cyborg was developed using data gathered from Marie Meixnerová, Tomáš Javůrek, was approached by MeetFactory cu-
video games and social networks. However, the musician’s lyrics have been rators Tereza Jindrová and Eva Bláhová to prepare a project on artificial
shown to be hateful, reproduce racist stereotypes and make light of police intelligence and art. We initially concentrated on figuring out how to ap-
violence against the black community. (Dazed, 2022, August 26) (BBC, proach these fundamental issues and challenges, but we also wanted to
2022, August 24) In the music industry, artificial stars have been created steer clear of the conventional curatorial method because it would either
to meet audience demand for years. (Stassen, 2021, April 1) However, this not provide an answer or would provide a very oblique one.
example confirms that neural networks, as designed (back propagated), Our curatorial approach was founded on challenging the general
reinforce features of what they process and therefore reinforce existing public’s romantic, science fiction-based notion of artificial intelligence. We
stereotypes in society. We could see the rapper FN Mekka as an exam- intended to step-by-step conjure up artificial intelligence for the audience
ple of a new type of advanced musical instrument composed of learning and portray it in a grotesque shape, i.e., the one we believe best matches
algorithms. However, it seems that it is not easy to understand how this it. First and foremost, we sought to free the relationship between art and
instrument is actually played. artificial intelligence of the assumptions that accompany its anthromor-
Lev Manovich emphasizes that artificial intelligence is playing phization... Marie Meixner quoted Weizenbaum in this context:
an increasingly important role in our cultural lives and behaviors, in-
creasingly automating the processes of aesthetic creation and aesthetic “And since the domain of human intelligence is, except for a small
choices, from mobile phone text editors, recommendation apps, and all set of formal problems, determined by the humanity of man, any
manner of profile photo editing apps. (Manovich, 2018) There are a grow- other intelligence, however great, must necessarily be remote from
ing number of freely available AI apps for creating aesthetically satisfying the human domain.” (Weizenbaum, J., 2002, p. 94).
texts, images, and music. We can witness how social media pages de-
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