K Allado-McDowell, an artist and technologist, dives deep into the realm of Neural Media, exploring how AI challenges our creativity and self-perception. They discuss the evolution of AI-generated art and its implications for identity, referencing the viral 'trippysquirrel.jpg.' Allado-McDowell also highlights the optimism found in the chaos of low-quality AI outputs, suggesting that these new tools can deepen our understanding of ourselves and our interconnected world, blurring the lines between art and technology in transformative ways.
Neural media represents a shift towards interactive environments shaped by biometric data that redefine personal identity and social interaction.
Artists working with AI must create contextual frameworks to elevate the quality of AI-generated content beyond mere 'AI slop' into meaningful creative expression.
The exploration of interspecies communication through AI encourages a shift from human-centric views to ecocentric perspectives that prioritize environmental sustainability.
Deep dives
The Evolution of Media and Neural Contexts
The exploration of media evolution highlights the shift from traditional broadcast media to the emerging concept of 'neural media'. Each type of media progresses through distinct phases that influence identity and interaction, with broadcast media consolidating attention and shaping demographic identities. In contrast, neural media presents a dynamic environment where biometric data influences personal identity and social interaction, leading to significant questions about how individuals perceive themselves in relation to this evolving landscape. This transformative progression emphasizes the need to understand how emerging technologies will continue to shape human experience and identity.
Understanding Neural Media
Neural media refers to a new form of media where surroundings can sense and respond to individual states, often utilizing biometric data to shape personal experience. This concept urges a reevaluation of how creative expression can occur in tandem with AI-driven technologies, as they enable deeper connections within our media ecosystem. By incorporating neural media into artistic practices, creators can explore how personal and collective identities can be influenced and redefined through these high-dimensional systems. Such an approach encourages a collaborative relationship with technology rather than a dominating, all-consuming interaction.
Impact of AI on Creativity and Identity
AI systems can both empower and challenge traditional notions of creativity and identity by producing content that reflects human-generated networked patterns. For example, the quality of AI-generated imagery can vary from high fidelity to 'AI slop', where the output is bizarre but lacks contextual meaning. It's essential for artists collaborating with AI to create frameworks that provide context and meaning to this generated content, allowing it to transcend mere production into fulfilling creative expression. This collaboration demands an understanding of the socio-political implications of AI, as the identities crafted within these parameters are molded by broader societal dynamics.
Biometric Data and Self-Perception
As biometric data becomes integral in shaping personal identity, individuals increasingly experience themselves through algorithms that predict and guide behavior based on statistical modeling. This emerging construct can either enhance self-awareness or lead to a form of manipulation where one's identity is dictated by external systems. The consequence is a pressing need to critically examine our relationships with these technologies to mitigate potential adverse effects on personal agency. Engaging thoughtfully with these AI-driven systems may allow individuals to reclaim autonomy in their identities within a neural media context.
The Future of Neural Media and Ecological Considerations
The dialogue around neural media extends beyond human interaction to explore how AI might engage with non-human intelligences within the environment. Projects focusing on interspecies communication and ecological awareness illustrate a potential shift in attention from human-centric models to more holistic, ecocentric perspectives. By integrating AI with ecological intelligence, society may reimagine its identity and values in ways that prioritize sustainability and biodiversity. This pivot offers a promising avenue for using technology to foster deeper connections with the living world rather than simply augmenting human capabilities.
How will AI shape our understanding of our creativity and ourselves?
In February, artist and technologist K Allado-McDowell delivered a fascinating Long Now Talk that explored the dimensions of Neural Media — their term for an emerging set of creative forms that use artificial neural networks inspired by the connective design of the human brain.
Their Long Now Talk is a journey through the strange valleys and outcroppings of this age of neural media, telling a story involving statistical distributions, anti-aging influencers at war with death itself, and vast quantities of “AI Slop,” the low-quality, faintly surreal output of cheap, rapidly proliferating image models.
Yet even in this morass of slop Allado-McDowell sees reason for optimism. Referring to the title of their 02020 book Pharmako-AI, which was co-written with GPT-3, Allado-McDowell notes that the Greek word pharmakon could mean both drug and cure. What may seem poisonous or dangerous in this new paradigm of neural media could also unlock for us new and deeper ways of understanding ourselves, our planet, and all of the intelligent networks that live within it.
Show notes: https://longnow.org/ideas/neural-media/
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