Page 87 - AC-2-3
P. 87
Arts & Communication Computer vision in tactical AI art
be used to reconfigure or extend them in insightful ways. Funding
By demystifying the expressive contexts and the seemingly
radical capabilities of their tools through experiences that None.
engage the audience’s acumen and imagination, artists can Conflict of interest
leverage AI issues as assets for gaining new insights about
human nature and relations. The author declares that he has no competing interests.
4. Conclusion Author contributions
This is a single-authored article.
The contemporary AI-infused sociotechnical landscape
provides a range of resources for artists to reveal Ethics approval and consent to participate
its paradoxes, flaws, and injustices and points out
that science, technology, businesses, and education Not applicable.
need a thorough reconfiguration and improvement Consent for publication
of epistemological and ethical standards facing the
increasing complexity of human existence. Given Not applicable.
these potentials and stakes, a constructive appraisal of Availability of data
critical AI art’s transformative values should reassess
the viability of the prevalent theoretical premises, such Not applicable.
as the tactical versus strategic distinction in cultural Further disclosure
practices and recognize the adjective “tactical” as overly
hedging under present sociotechnical circumstances, (i) This article includes several topically relevant passages
particularly by the assumption of tactical practices’ from the paper The Mechanical Turkness: Tactical
fleeting nature. The claim that tactical art practices do Media Art and the Critique of Corporate AI (https://
not necessarily have to provoke political action and may arxiv.org/pdf/2402.17490) by the same author, which
be justified by the intellectual stimulation they provide is not intended for republication.
is undermined by the ethically charged critique in their (ii) The artists provided all figures in the article and gave
poetic core, which makes a strong intuitive drive to take their permission for publication. The photograph/
them as political acts that promote or at least imply a call image credits in figure captions are as specified by the
to action. Political actions can yield longer-term changes artists. No figures were taken from published articles.
only if adopted widely enough or sufficiently sustained. References
Matching the complexities and ambiguities of 1. Cetinić E, She J. Understanding and creating art with
contemporary AI’s political reality entails building Ai: Review and outlook. ACM Trans Multimed Comput
an authentic and robust conceptual framework for Commun Appl. 2022;18(2):1-22.
critical artmaking instead of merely importing models doi: 10.1145/3475799
from disciplines such as sociology, cultural theory, or
philosophy. This framework requires more stringent self- 2. Grba D. Deep else: A critical framework for AI Art. MDPI
reflexivity and readiness to derive sober insights about Digit. 2022;2(1):1-32.
pragmaticism and resilience from the strategic realms it doi: 10.3390/digital2010001
aims to disrupt, which may result in artists’ more radical 3. Webb A, Caufield E, Grau E, Alsever J, Cooney C,
and equally responsible approaches to risk-taking and Blake M. 2022 Tech Trends Report: Artificial Intelligence.
provocation. Crucially, its affordances should be informed 15 ed. Future Today Institute; 2022. Available from: https://
th
by seeking and understanding the accounts in which the futuretodayinstitute.com/mu_uploads/2022/03/fti_tech_
means (technologies) developed to serve the long-term trends_2022_book01.pdf [Last accessed on 2024 Apr 05].
interests of the political power have been converted into 4. O’Neil C. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data
serving the long-term interests of its opposition. This paper Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Kindle
contributes to building such a framework by providing a edition. New York, NY: Crown; 2016.
starting point for a systematic study of CV-related critical 5. Zuboff S. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a
art. Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. New York, NY:
Public Affairs; 2019.
Acknowledgments
6. Raley R. Tactical Media. Minneapolis, MN: University of
None. Minnesota Press; 2009.
Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 14 doi: 10.36922/ac.2282

