[Air-L] Ecological AI & Creative AI at King's College London

[Joanna Zylinska]

Dear All,



I have a couple of AI-related announcements from the Department of Digital
Humanities at King’s College London: a talk on Ecological AI and a position
paper on Creative AI.



*1. Ecological AI*

The Creative AI Lab and the Computational Humanities Research Group in the
Department of Digital Humanities at King’s have the pleasure to invite you
to this talk and discussion on the role of the humanities in imagining AI
futures by philosopher of technology Adam Nocek from Arizona State
University.



15 March 2023, 17:00 to 18:30

Strand Campus, Bush House (SE) 1.01



Free to attend but places are limited so please register:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/ecological-ai



The premise of this talk is that we need to think about artificial
intelligence (AI) as a complex ecosystem, and that doing so requires
navigating thorny disputes in the theoretical humanities and social
sciences concerning the autonomy and environmental dependency of machine
learning algorithms. Further, the talk contends that steering this course
requires entering into a series of debates concerning AI and its
metaphysical, political and ecological existence. The proposal for an
ecologically complex view of machine learning outlined in this talk will
take shape against the backdrop of various tensions and dead ends that
arise in two competing theoretical discourses: the first stresses the
autonomy of computational rationality, the second emphasizes the dependency
and impact these algorithmic systems have on planetary systems. Along the
way, the talk will trace the ways in which these different conceptual
projects also become legible through divergent but equal investments in
Karl Marx’s work on automation. But ultimately, certain intractable
problems regarding machine learning and its relation to the interiority and
exteriority of algorithmic systems will give us permission to search for a
revised conception of ecological complexity in the work of Conrad Hal
Waddington, Lynn Margulis, and Alfred North Whitehead. Such a reframing
will also seed new potentials for political critique, and also reaffirm the
central importance of the theoretical humanities for engaging AI futures.



Speaker bio

Adam Nocek is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Technology and Science
and Technology Studies at the School of Arts, Media + Engineering, Arizona
State University. He is the Founding Director of the Center for
Philosophical Technologies (CPT) and Editor of Techniques Journal. He is
the author of Molecular Capture: The Animation of Biology (2021) and is
working on his next monograph, Governmental Design: On Algorithmic Autonomy.

Website: http://adamnocek.com



*2. Creative AI *

Creative AI Lab (a collaboration between Serpentine's R&D Platform and
Department of Digital Humanities) has the pleasure to announce the
publication of our position paper,
‘Creative—Critical—Constructive—Collaborative—Computational: Towards a C5
model in Creative AI’.



The paper analyses creative activity enabled by machine learning and
recognised under the banner of ‘Creative AI’. The theoretical discussion is
anchored in critical reflection on the activities in which we have been
involved as part of our Lab. The paper proposes a C5 model
(‘Creative—Critical—Constructive—Collaborative—Computational’) bringing
together technical research and conceptual inquiry, while shifting focus
from artefacts to their wider contexts, processes and infrastructures. It
also outlines directions for future research on creativity and AI.



The paper is available open-access:

https://bit.ly/creativeAI_23



Best,

Joanna





-- 

Joanna Zylinska

Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice

King's College London

Department of Digital Humanities



http://www.joannazylinska.net