Creating a space for dialogue
On 13 March 2024, Serpentine and Google convened 29 practitioners from across the UK cultural ecosystem including artists, curators, writers, technologists, and thinkers to imagine and debate the future of AI for artists and creative practitioners.
Hear from Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Artistic Director at Serpentine, on the roundtable discussion
Serpentine and Google AI Round Table (2024-03-18) by Jonny GloverSerpentine
Two key questions guided the roundtable discussion on the impact of AI in the creative sector: Where are we today, and where should we go from here?
Refik Anadol: Echoes of the Earth (2024-02) by Refik Anadol and Hugo GlendinningSerpentine
The roundtable was held during the exhibition Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive by artist and technologist Refik Anadol.
6 key takeaways from the discussion
Let's explore some of the key insights and learnings from the roundtable on AI's impact on creativity.
1. AI and understanding humanity
AI presents a series of opportunities and challenges for our understanding of humanity. Art and artists can bring different perspectives on the values we embed within technology, such as AI in diplomacy, AI love, AI and nature, and AI collaborating with non-human intelligence.
The potential for a deeper understanding of human creativity and intelligence (2024-07) by Jonny GloverSerpentine
"Can AI help us find common ground?"
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Artist
We could see AI as ‘a mirror to ourselves’ in which we prioritise what values should be embedded within the technology and who needs to be part of the conversation. Art and artists can bring ethical perspectives, a different set of values and different cultural perceptions.
2. New connections and knowledge
AI models that are trained on vast amounts of data, and therefore knowledge, could support the ability to find new connections between concepts, ideas and objects which is valuable in different contexts.
In addition, technology as a practice creates culture, and there is an opportunity to rethink the relationship between technology, society and how life is organised through cross sector collaboration and remaking knowledge.
3. A collective understanding of creation and culture
We need to develop new forms for data governance, and frameworks for IP and ownership. Cross-sector collaboration, and collective cultural efforts highlight the need to shift our focus from individual AI benefits to the inherent collaboration within culture, tech and society.
All of which must be developed with the nuances and complexities of power, cultural and historical difference and experience, that the collective is not homogenous.
Moving Towards Collective Understanding of Creation and Culture (2024-07) by Jonny GloverSerpentine
"What was the individual anyway?"
Es Devlin, Artist and Stage Designer
4. Art is a generative space for prototyping
Prototyping in art can make abstract ideas tangible. Making, in which artists shape and reflect themselves in the AI systems they are creating, is part of a long historical tradition of crafting in order to cultivate human understanding of the new.
5. Understanding contextual layers of AI
AI is not just a single technology or a single idea about technology or intelligence, rather it is a layering of technologies, resources, and contexts that have different roles and functions, each of which provides a different opportunity for cultural interrogation.
6. Literacy and understanding data and datasets
Data is a key component of any AI system. It’s the point where artists and arts organisations can interrogate technology, impact literacy and knowledge around data rights, and shape how culture is represented in a future digital infrastructure built on AI systems.
More literacy to our understanding of data relationships (2024) by Jonny GloverSerpentine
"Our connection to data has been lost"
Refik Anadol, Artist and Designer
By shifting to a collective understanding of AI governance we can create systems of support with strong data stewardship, thoughtful private policies, and a collaborative relationship between technology, culture, and society.
Considerations of Ethics (2024-07) by Jonny GloverSerpentine
Conclusion
The consensus was that AI should reflect our shared values; bringing in a diverse range of perspectives and ethical considerations that reflect the nuances of power, cultural and historical difference.
Consideration of Ethics Pink (2024) by Jonny GloverSerpentine
Key to this is the vital role of artists and cultural institutions in shaping the direction of AI and safeguarding creative freedom. Developing strategies to support access, experimentation and prototyping within the art context for the benefit of culture and society.
Prioritising cross-sector and interdisciplinary collaborations that work across art, technology and civic contexts to support diverse perspectives through the development of a shared language and interventions at different layers of the technology stack.
Data, as a core component of AI systems, represents a key intervention for art and culture. From the repositioning of the individual data subject to data as relational, to the stewardship of data and greater literacy in terms of data rights and goverance.
An ongoing collaboration
Serpentine and Google Arts & Culture have a long history of collaboration and experimentation at the intersection of art and technology through convenings and commissioning projects with artists such as Es Devlin, Jakob Kudsk Steensen and Zaha Hadid.
Google Technology & Society Envisioning Studio is invested in ongoing collaborations and conversations with artists and how that shapes research and product investments.
What's Serpentine’s year of AI?
As part of Serpentine's year of AI, in March 2024 Serpentine released Future Art Ecosystems 4: Art x Public AI , and announced a major exhibition by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst produced by Serpentine Arts Technologies opening Autumn 2024.
Roundtable Report Group photo (2004-03-18) by Harry RichardsSerpentine
Here are the roundtable participants.
Serpentine and Google AI Round Table participants:
Refik Anadol
Mercedes Bunz
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Shezad Dawood
Es Devlin
Kanta Dihal
Mat Dryhurst
Efsun Erkılıç
Daisy Ginsberg
Lila Ibrahim
Victoria Ivanova
Eva Jäger
Bettina Korek
Eva Kozanecka
Lawrence Lek
Xin Liu
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Dr Erinma Ochu
Sarah Post
Dr Kate Reid
Ankur Vora
Caroline Ward
Kay Watson
Ryan Zurrer
and Douglas Eck from Google DeepMind, Mira Lane from Google Technology & Society Envisioning Studio, and representatives from Google Arts & Culture.
