Fractured Reflections

A new experimental work exploring how generative AI systems caption and create new content based on limited data. In this caseI I automatically pixelate the images the AI receives. It then falls to Clip interrogator to assign a caption to the pixelated image. Then Generative AI to generate a new image using the source as an entirely new image.

a pixelated image of the artist wearing a pink linen shirt. they have pale skin and glasses and purple and green hair

a generative AI reinterpretation of the pixelated image. This person has purple hair and glasses and a pink shirt, pale skin and a light beard.

Through this work I hope to explore the connection between AI bias and interpretation of identity. What are the most common terms that the AI uses and why? are people represented faithfully by these systems or does the AI frequently miscategorize and underrepresent them? I want to encourage users to explore why AI sees them in certain ways and interrogate that connection. What does it mean when the AI changes who you are?

The artist in a dark environment. wearing red and black. I reiterate that the artist naturally has pale skin

Thanks to the lack of lighting, the generated image has olive skin and is more feminine looking this time.

I want to encourage people to discuss the biases inherent in these systems and consider how much they trust them. In a way, I am encouraging “AI hallucinations” by reducing the information that the AI system receives. This creates a strong basis for it to wildly experiment and make up the missing data. As users of generative AI rely on these systems to help fill in incomplete data, I feel it is fitting to show how they fail to extrapolate from missing data. Especially when it comes to classification of living people.

A close up image of the artist in a pixelated state. still wearing a pink shirt

a closer image of a different white man with glasses and a purple shirt.

Future Directions

I also want to expand this to environments to explore the inherent colonialism of generative AI. AI systems are notoriously biased, and generative AI systems are particularly Eurocentric. This directly contributes to the colonialist narrative of generative AI systems as they continue to expand across the internet and the utilities we rely on. This colonization of generative AI is an area I want to interrogate in this work as an installation in one of the many beautiful parks in Melbourne. Can we de-colonize a colonial structure by training images on local flora and re-interpret the space? what would that look like?

a pixelated view of the Fitzroy gardens conservatory

The conservatory reimagined as native bushland. there is still some of the shape to the conservatory in the large tree and the path now looks like water.

This is very much a work in progress at the moment and I hope to update it with more results as I explore and experiment. This work will need further testing with more people and locations.

Another angle of the Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory but with the fountain in front

The conservatory has been reimagined to look like the Australian Bush with gum trees and a nice river. the shapes are still roughly there.

Future Directions

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