The impact of artificial intelligence on human lives is pervasive but not always apparent. In their work, Ulm collaborates with AI to explore the influence of both human and artificial processes of learning systems and environments on the physical and virtual worlds. Which biases are seeded into what will potentially be isolated evolutions? What human fears, indecisiveness, and chaos are mapped to hidden variables in the working algorithms that are generated? How might one intelligent system come to decipher a universe presented through the shadows of another intelligence?

For “Generative {Auspicious} Adversarial Network” and “Semi {Sinister} Supervised Learning Algorithm,” Ulm explores the seemingly inconsistent nature of the interactions between humans and AI. On one level, they are mapped one to millions, yet on another, they are highly personalized, individualized relationships. In this body of work, Ulm approaches both the process of creating visuals through AI collaboration for overlays, as well as the power of binaural audio and face to face communication in facilitating intimacy.

I’ve been asked to display two of my digital story pieces at the Schiltkamp Gallery at Clark University as part of the Clark in the Arts exhibit. I will be doing a Gallery Talk on Wednesday October 6th if you are curious.

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For this project I developed two characters and wrote their dialogues as representations of the personas I built around two common machine learning algorithms. It is interesting for me to create personas for avatars that represent artificial intelligence practices as a reflection of the personification that we as humans cast upon non-living devices. For me, the work investigates our desperate personal and societal need and attraction to human purpose and connection alongside our culturally forced aspiration of technological advancement.

It also reflects a very personal journey from enjoying technology as a toy alongside many other creative toys (not in the sense of toys for children, just as human tangible playthings), to coming to regret my current culture’s goal of supplementation versus augmentation. It is no longer preferable or positive even, to create, invent, discover, or spread awareness of ideas for the sake of adding to a broader repository of possibility. Instead, for the sake of commercial/capitalist greed, it is far better, and efficient, for one stakeholder to hold the single option, supplanting all others with the falsehood of inferiority, outdatedness, and even liability.