This shows a collage image which integrates three layers representing three different contexts with a bold black diagram of a neural network overlay. In the top section, there is a classroom with students working at computer desks. The middle section shows the cooling system for a data centre. The bottom section features an open mine with exposed rocks, showing the process of extractive mining. 

This collage image is intended to represent different parts of the lifecycle of AI. The bottom image is a photograph of mining of the raw materials required to build AI systems; the middle is a photograph of a cooling system, necessary to protect data centres during AI training and deployment; and the top is a group of students in a computer classroom, intended to represent not only the users of AI systems but also the source of data that AI systems surveil and scrape to train. The overlay is a graphical representation of an artificial neural network, connecting these processes and elements together. The collage is built from licensed Adobe Stock photographs and graphics. 

Extraction Network 1

A single tree silhouette is composed of a mosaic of an array of small, colourful images of various types of trees in a collage. The images are projected onto a cutout shape of a tree and overlap in vibrant layers. The tree sits against a dark forest background with a white drop shadow which creates distance between the tree and the forest behind it. The base of the tree features a bright green grass wrapped around the trunk. 

'Seeing the Forest for the Trees'  explores the interpretative learning process of generative AI. The image was created by photographing a handmade maquette, onto which the artist projected a mosaic of tree imagery sourced from Unsplash - a free to license stock photo website. This compilation was then digitally manipulated in Adobe Photoshop. 

The artwork reflects how AI learns and recognises objects through mass data processing, drawing on thousands of images to produce an 'average' or archetypal version of familiar items—in this case, trees. The staged construction of the image highlights how AI generated images are inherently manufactured assemblages which seek to represent the lowest common denominator of training images. 

By using a montage of tree photos to form a single tree, the piece metaphorically raises the question of whether AI can truly 'see the forest for the trees' or if it merely generates simplified, stereotyped representations. This approach reflects on AI’s inherent limitations, as it processes patterns without fully grasping the unique essence of individual images within a broader context.

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

This image uses minimalist line art and adopts a monochromatic colour palette with soft green accents. The composition is built upon a spherical grid system that mirrors Earth's curvature, creating a dynamic digital backdrop and an immersive sense of depth. The image is split into various quadrants which each represent different themes: 'for better', 'for worse', 'all the time', 'far' and 'near'. In the top left is 'for better', it illustrates hands piecing together cloud-shaped puzzle pieces which have different images within them, including: a heart, a light bulb, a lock, and data symbols. In the top right, 'far' includes elements like satellites and lab equipment. In the middle of the image, 'for worse' illustrates a person holding a smartphone showing face recognition option with 'YES' or 'NO'. In the bottom left, 'all the time' shows a person under surveillance by a camera and being monitored by a digital device. Finally, in the bottom right, 'near' shows a car surrounded by wireless signals and a digital assistant. 

This illustration presents a multi-layered visualisation of AI's integration into modern day society. The composition is built upon a spherical grid system that mirrors Earth's curvature, creating a dynamic digital backdrop and an immersive sense of depth. This foundation represents the underlying
framework of AI systems that span our globe. Humans are shown assembling cloud-shaped puzzle pieces, implying humanity's dual role as both architects and orchestrators of AI technology. The artwork acknowledges AI's imperfections, including glitch-like elements that represent systemic biases and errors
in machine learning. Every day’s AI interactions are captured through various illustrations: children interacting with robotic companions, autonomous delivery systems, satellite communications, smartphones facilitating autonomous vehicle orders, and smart home technologies – all seamlessly woven into our daily lives. At the bottom, a depiction of a tree whose roots morph into flowing data streams and digital pathways, suggest how AI's growth and development are fundamentally nourished by human-supplied information.

The Omnipresent Tapestry

Two men are seated in the front seats of a car and the image is from the perspective as looking over the shoulders of the two individuals. The driver, on the right, holds a smartphone showing Google Maps with a route from Galway to Clifden, displaying the travel time and directions. The passenger, on the left, wears glasses and a dark green hoodie and holds a large, spiral-bound road atlas open to a page showing the west coast of Ireland. The car’s dashboard and controls are visible between them. 

This image shows two men sitting in the front seats of a car. The driver holds a smartphone displaying Google Maps, showing directions from Galway to Clifden, while the passenger holds an open, traditional road atlas on his lap. This scene captures a juxtaposition of old and new navigational tools: the classic road atlas represents traditional methods of travel planning, while the smartphone embodies modern technology with real-time, AI-powered assistance.

The smartphone emphasises how AI is seamlessly integrated into everyday life, providing instant access to directions, traffic updates, and alternative routes. This blend of traditional and digital methods highlights how AI has moved from being a futuristic concept to an essential, practical tool in our daily routines. AI technology is at our fingertips, transforming how we navigate and move through the world by making travel smarter, faster, and more efficient.

Moving Through The World

This image shows the corner of a room, with wooden floor with two walls - one is smaller than the other. On the left smaller wall, glowing app icons, with logos including Netflix, Spotify, OpenAI, and Alexa are arranged in a grid. Multiple sets of dark footprints converge toward these icons on the floor. 

The room’s right side features wooden shelves with various items: stacks of books, a vintage red rotary phone, vinyl records, and framed artwork. These objects are slightly shadowed and appear darker, but occupy the larger wall. On the floor’s bottom left corner, a few footprints veer off in the opposite direction to the other footsteps which were facing the glowing apps. 

This digital painting was created using Procreate. The image shows a glowing wall on the left filled with recognisable app icons like Netflix, Spotify, Alexa, and OpenAI. A trial of footsteps converges towards these icons, symbolising our attention and fascination towards AI. On the opposite side, various physical items, like books, vintage records, a rotary telephone, and paintings, are shrouded in a shadow. Despite this, these objects occupy more space, representing both their substantial historical impact and their persistent relevance in our increasingly digital world. 

The juxtaposition between the shiny icons and these shadowed historical objects invites us to adopt a retrospective and prospective view towards AI, acknowledging AI’s shiny surface and its deeper historical roots. The footsteps that are veering in the opposite direction symbolises the uncertainties and open questions about the future of AI and technology. It suggests that while AI might dominate our focus today, understanding its evolution requires a broader perspective that includes past mediums and future unknowns.

A Corner Of The History

The image is a very detailed, black-and-white sketch-like illustration featuring a complex scene of interconnected figures and technology. The artwork portrays various individuals in different environments to represent the relationship between technology and humans. 

In the foreground, multiple people are surrounded by computer screens filled with data visualisations, charts, and technical information. A woman seated in an armchair appears deep in thought, surrounded by data-filled monitors. Beside her, a man leans over, using a tablet to assist with their inspection of a plant or tree. In the centre, a figure holds a large frame or screen displaying anatomical illustrations, representing the use of AI to analyse medical imagery. To the left, another person is intently observing a computer screen, while a second figure nearby is deeply immersed in analysing data. A woman dominates the right side of the composition, gazing upwards as if in contemplation or envisioning something beyond the immediate scene. The background features more people, including a family holding hands, and other abstract representations of data.

The black-and-white illustration showcases various scenes that capture the role of AI in enhancing and impacting different aspects of human life. To the left, there is a man in front of a computer analysing lots of data – this shows how AI is assisting professionals process large amounts of data more easily. Below him, an elderly woman is sitting comfortably after using AI technology to switch on a light and help her listen to the news. Towards the centre, a man embraces his family, representing how AI can automate time-consuming tasks, allowing people more time to spend with their family. In the lower right, a farmer studies a tablet displaying soil data, indicating how AI can support agricultural insights. Amid these scenes, a content moderator is relieved from the burden of viewing harmful or offensive content, thanks to AI that screens and filters such material. The background is filled with abstract representations of data and pieces of information, signifying the constant presence of AI streamlining and structuring the flow of information around us. However, despite the beneficial uses of AI represented in the image, what is absent is the use of AI to create art. The intricacy of the hand-drawn details of the image reinforce the message that while AI can be transformative and practical in many areas, art remains a deeply human endeavour. 

AI is Everywhere

The painting shows a person standing on a staircase made of green and pink cubes, symbolising a Penrose staircase, in a cosmic environment. The person is reaching towards a glowing cross-shaped structure emitting binary code, representing AI's reach into the future. Surrounding the figure are outlined boxes showing various  elements, such as glasses, medical tools, a self-driving car, and financial symbols, interconnected by white lines. The background is dark with star-like dots and features colour-coded boxes which mark different elements as relating to AI, human involvement, a combination of both, or an area uncharted by AI and humans. 

This painting explores the vast, and ever-expanding use of AI. The universe serves as a symbol or the infinite applications of AI and also reflects its growing presence across all aspects of life. In the centre, there is a figure standing on an abstract representation of a Penrose staircase. The Penrose staircase, also known as the 'impossible staircase' is an optical illusion comprised of four 90 degree turns, forming a continuous loop. The staircase can be ascended and descended forever without ever reaching the end - it is often used as a symbol for infinity and eternity. The image uses the Penrose staircase to refer to the infinite scope of human imagination, which used in combination with AI applications, will enable humans to continue to develop to meet our potential. Surrounding the staircase, there are various symbols enclosed in outlined boxes, each representing different applications of AI: from transport, retail, and medicine, to finance. These outlined boxes, representing the recognition frames used in AI image detection processes. The smaller colour-coded blocks indicate whether the content within the frames are generated by AI, humans, a combination of both, or an area uncharted by AI and humans. 

AI is Everywhere 

An illustration showing a hand holding a smartphone with its camera app open, capturing an image of a cartoon purple cat. The camera screen displays the cat framed with a square outline, and several facial features—such as the eyes, ears, and nose—are highlighted with smaller boxes and connected by thin lines, illustrating an AI recognition process. The cat is slightly blurred in the background outside the phone screen, emphasising the focus on the camera's view. 

This illustration highlights one of the many overlooked ways AI integrates into our daily routines. We often do not realise that everyday tools, such as smartphone cameras, also utilise AI technology. By processing images taken by users, AI can learn from the vast array of data fed to the system. For example, through image recognition capabilities used on photo applications, AI utilises users' images and learns to identify objects, faces, and places. This iterative process also forms the foundations for the generative capabilities of AI, whereby models can also generate images, statements, or answers based on learned information. Snapcat serves as a reminder that every time we use these common features, we are playing a crucial role in the advancement of AI technology through our continuous (often unknowing) interactions.

Snapcat 

This image shows an individual with orange hair interacting with a large, abstract digital mirrored structure. The structure is composed of squares in varying shades of green, orange, white, and black which are pieced together to reflect the individual’s figure. The figure's hand is extended as if pointing to or interacting with the mirrored structure. Behind the  structure are streams of binary code (0s and 1s) in orange, flowing towards the digital grid.

The image breaks down the interactions between humans and technology that support the inner-workings of AI chatbots. The mirror symbolises how our current interactions with AI are based on human prompts and commands which is why the user is faced with a reflection of themselves in the mirror. At present, AI cannot generate its own content, so it reflects the human thoughts and opinions that are fed into systems through training and interaction. The binary code behind the mirror symbolises how human data is converted into computer language which powers AI. These three layers of the image (user, mirror, and code) break down the process of interactions and focus on the blurred lines between human work and AI generation.  

Talking to AI 2.0

This image features a grid of 35 square tiles with blue, pink, burgundy and orange figures inside the tiles interacting with dark green letters of the phrase "Hi, I am AI” set against a yellow background. The figures are positioned in various poses, as if they are climbing, pushing, or leaning on the letters.

This image portrays the varied applications that AI has in different domains and the different feelings that humans feel towards this technology. The text, 'Hi, I am AI' pays homage to the iconic 'Hello World' phrase in programming which is usually the first lesson in coding - pointing to the rich history of AI which has its roots in basic code. Sprawled across the page, this text is behind grid squares which represent different industries. The fact that the text expands across multiple grid squares demonstrates how one AI tool can have uses in different industries. 

The figures within each square all interact with the text, 'Hi, I am AI' in complex and different ways. For example, the body language of the figures show them to be frustrated/ curious/ playful/ sceptical/ indifferent or affectionate towards AI. The image portrays the nuances behind our responses to AI which change contextually and are also heavily driven by our personal beliefs.

There are two versions of 'Exploring AI' available on our library. This one includes different colour figures to better represent the diverse world that we live in. 

Exploring AI 2.0

Talking to AI

This image features a grid of 35 square tiles with a minimalist figures inside the tiles interacting with dark green letters of the phrase "Hi, I am AI” set against a yellow background. The figures are positioned in various poses, as if they are climbing, pushing, or leaning on the letters.

This image portrays the varied applications that AI has in different domains and the different feelings that humans feel towards this technology. The text, 'Hi, I am AI' pays homage to the iconic 'Hello World' phrase in programming which is usually the first lesson in coding - pointing to the rich history of AI which has its roots in basic code. Sprawled across the page, this text is behind grid squares which represent different industries. The fact that the text expands across multiple grid squares demonstrates how one AI tool can have uses in different industries. 

The figures within each square all interact with the text, 'Hi, I am AI' in complex and different ways. For example, the body language of the figures show them to be frustrated/ curious/ playful/ sceptical/ indifferent or affectionate towards AI. The image portrays the nuances behind our responses to AI which change contextually and are also heavily driven by our personal beliefs.

Exploring AI

A young female character, representing a doll, in a school uniform who is illustrated in the Japanese artistic and cultural 'Kawaii' style. The bright doll with green eyes is in the palm of an anonymous and sinister figure and surrounded by darkness and shadow in contrast to her colourful uniform. There is a faint web-like pattern on the figures and the background.

This image depicts a young female character in a school uniform who is illustrated in the Japanese artistic and cultural 'Kawaii' style. The Kawaii aesthetic symbolises childlike innocence, cuteness, and the quality of being lovable. The female character, who represents a Kawaii doll, is in the palm of an anonymous and sinister figure which is symbolic of the dark side of the Internet. The faint web-like pattern on the figures and the background symbolises the unseen influence that AI has on how media is created and distributed that often reinforces stereotypes or facilitates exploitation. The image aims to illustrate how AI tools, like image generators and chatbots, are often created by male-dominant groups who use AI to sexualise women and girls. 

Yutong was inspired to create this image after she found a Facebook group where offensive AI-generated images of women were being shared, mainly by men. 

Who's Creating the Kawaii Girl?

A cluster of coloured pixels made up from random gaussian noise taking up the whole canvas, representing a not denoised AI generated image; digital pointillism

The way current AI-generated images work is by using one of the image present in their dataset, then adding noise to it until it becomes nothing but noise, before progressively removing it (denoising) in an attempt to recreate the image initially used, having forgotten it in the meantime, with the prompt submitted as the only indication. All this is, of course, is an invisibilized process, just as the initial image used is not known to us. And it's precisely this cluster of pure random noise that allows us to see this intermediate image, at once an image that is no longer one, and the potentiality of all upcoming images. https://www.instagram.com/adrienlms

Non-image

Pixelated images of pregnant women running on a race track, dynamically posed but distorted due to limited data availability. They are holding cards that read “error cannot generate,” symbolizing the struggle to accurately represent such dynamic figures due to inadequate online resources.

In creating "Fighting Pregnant Women" poses for Speculative Birth Futures, I found limited and stereotyped online images of pregnant women( holding their bellies, appearing expectant, and offering modest smiles). Despite extensive searches on platforms like Midjourney, I couldn't find suitable poses, revealing a significant algorithmic bias. This scarcity brings lack of diversity in digital representations, leading to unfair profiling and exclusions of certain groups. I had to re-imagine the poses, considering unique bodily changes, and highlighting the need for broader, inclusive visual database. This artwork also highlights the race to develop technology without ensuring the necessary data is available. Adobe Firefly AI generator was used by the artist to edit their original work. Commission managed by AIxDESIGN - https://aixdesign.co/  AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. 

error cannot generate

A tic-tac-toe board with human faces as digital blocks, symbolizing how AI works on pre-existing, biased online data for information processing and decision-making

The emergence of AI revealed the flaws in older mediums/technologies like search engines such as Google and Bing. We discovered that search results were often biased and based on profiling. AI shed light on the categorized and limited nature of online data—it wasn't as random as presumed. The roots of biased algorithmic decisions existed long before AI arrived; AI is just an ‘accelerated’ medium. The lack of information led to behavioral biases in AI. This artwork represents an AI search engine that connects data points based on available information. Adobe Firefly AI generator was used by the artist to edit their original work. Commission managed by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co  AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. 

tic tac toe

A young brown woman wearing a bright green tracksuit. She is smiling and standing with her side slightly turned to the camera. She has a golden/brown cornrow hairstyle. On her head is a golden/brown structure composed of braided lines and braided spheres at the node of the lines. Some of the braided spheres are attached to the model's cornrows and fall over her shoulders.

Braided Networks 3 captures the model in a bright green tracksuit wearing the braided hair sculpture. The image is taken at an angle that captures the entire hair sculpture, including the nodes that fall from the model's cornrows. This image illustrates the interconnectedness between humans and their data and was inspired by 'Edge Computing' a process that brings computing services physically closer to the user or data source. Braided Networks' is a series of photographs that illustrate neural networks whilst referencing AI bias and the hidden human labour behind AI. The series focuses on a young brown woman with cornrows wearing and/or handling braided hair, sculpted into the form of a traditional network diagram. The hair sculpture builds on existing methods of illustrating neural networks through a combination of spherical braids representing nodes, and linear braids connecting the spheres representing complex layers and architectures within the network structure. Hair braiding is used as a medium to symbolise repetition, patterns, loops and geometry, themes also found in artificial intelligence. The intentional centering of a brown, female model and references to African-Caribbean hair and aesthetics throughout the series responds to a lack of representation and identity-related stereotypes often found within datasets. The time and painful labour involved in styling afro hair mirrors the unjust and unseen human labour behind AI development. Both are often fronted by women of colour yet sold and disposed of to their disadvantage. AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911.   Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co. 

Braided Networks 3

A smiling young brown woman with her eyes shut, wearing a bright green tracksuit with a brown/golden cornrow hairstyle surmounted by a braided brown/gold coloured structure composed of braided interconnected lines having a braided sphere at the nodes of the linear braids. The model also has a brown/gold braided sphere each in her hands. 

Braided Networks 2 captures the model in a bright green tracksuit wearing the braided hair sculpture. The model is an active part of the network in this image, holding two of the nodes that are attached to her braids in her hands and taking ownership of the data within them. This image particularly references the ‘human in the machine’. By placing the model at the centre of the network and reminding us that there is no technology without humanity; the image challenges traditional methods of illustrating neural networks, pushing them into a cheerful and contemporary format. 'Braided Networks' is a series of photographs that illustrate neural networks whilst referencing AI bias and the hidden human labour behind AI. The series focuses on a young brown woman with cornrows wearing and/or handling braided hair, sculpted into the form of a traditional network diagram. The hair sculpture builds on existing methods of illustrating neural networks through a combination of spherical braids representing nodes, and linear braids connecting the spheres representing complex layers and architectures within the network structure. Hair braiding is used as a medium to symbolise repetition, patterns, loops and geometry, themes also found in artificial intelligence. The intentional centering of a brown, female model and references to African-Caribbean hair and aesthetics throughout the series responds to a lack of representation and identity-related stereotypes often found within datasets. The time and painful labour involved in styling afro hair mirrors the unjust and unseen human labour behind AI development. Both are often fronted by women of colour yet sold and disposed of to their disadvantage. AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. 
 Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co

Braided Networks 2

 A young brown woman looking sideways to the left with cornrow hairstyle , the hairstyle has a brown/golden colour. On the cornrows , she has a braided structure made up of linear braids with spherical braids at the joints of the linear braids representing the craftwomanship/craftmanship and complexity within neural network. 

Braided Networks 1 captures a profile of the model wearing the braided hair sculpture; focusing on the craftswomanship and complexity within the neural network. Braided Networks' is a series of photographs that illustrate neural networks whilst referencing AI bias and the hidden human labour behind AI. The series focuses on a young brown woman with cornrows wearing and/or handling braided hair, sculpted into the form of a traditional network diagram. The hair sculpture builds on existing methods of illustrating neural networks through a combination of spherical braids representing nodes, and linear braids connecting the spheres representing complex layers and architectures within the network structure. Hair braiding is used as a medium to symbolise repetition, patterns, loops and geometry, themes also found in artificial intelligence. The intentional centering of a brown, female model and references to African-Caribbean hair and aesthetics throughout the series responds to a lack of representation and identity-related stereotypes often found within datasets. The time and painful labour involved in styling afro hair mirrors the unjust and unseen human labour behind AI development. Both are often fronted by women of colour yet sold and disposed of to their disadvantage. Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. 

Braided Networks 1

Collage with mirrors reflecting diverse human figures, symbolising AI data's human origin and the 'human in the loop' concept.

The aim of this image is to highlight that data, in both its ‘raw’ and reinterpreted form in AI systems, has a human origin. While moving through different seemingly abstract systems, a recognition of this origin highlights the notion of “human in the loop” and pushes back against the notion of AI as a ‘black box’. This work explores this idea through the symbolism of the mirror and reflection. While there is a magic in looking at the output of an AI system, there is also a need to ground this in the realism that such outputs are a reflection of society - the good and the bad. AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911.   Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co

Data is a Mirror of Us

A brightly coloured mural which can be viewed in any direction. It has several scenes within it: people in front of computers seeming stressed, a number of faces overlaid over each other, squashed emojis, miners digging in front of a huge mountain representing mineral resources, a hand holding a lump of coal or carbon, hands manipulating stock charts and error messages, as well as some women performing tasks on computers, men in suits around a table, someone in a data centre, big hands controlling the scenes and holding a phone, people in a production line. Motifs such as network diagrams and melting emojis are placed throughout the busy vignettes.


This is a mural made up from 3 other images in the library:
Power/Profit
This piece features corporate power and profit sustained through exploitation, control and domination, lying in the hands of a few decision-making profiteers who are mostly white, and mostly men.
Labour/Resources
This piece focuses on the unsustainable extraction of mineral resources and exploitation of labour that constitute the seemingly disembodied AI system.
User/Chimera
This piece represents the user as a Chimera, a visual metaphor suggested by Kate Crawford (who wrote the book Atlas of AI), in which the “end-user” also provides (often unknowingly) valuable feedback, personal data and other invisible, unpaid labour. The illustration also brings out the contrast between their multi-dimensionalities and the flat, biased categorisations of the human in inputs and outputs of AI.  AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911.   Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co


AI Mural

A collage picturing a chaotic intersection filled with reCAPTCHA items like crosswalks, fire hydrants and traffic lights, representing the unseen labor in data labelling.

This image is exploring the hidden AI labour of everyday internet usage. An everyday example of this is the use of reCAPTCHA systems. Occasionally as we navigate the internet we are asked to prove we are not a robot, by being asked to identify a series of objects. Typically it might be crosswalks, traffic lights, bicycle riders or palm trees. Our small contribution cumulatively contributes to a large portion of data labelling, which is used in monetized products. The image brings all of these seemingly mundane items together, to highlight the hidden everyday actions of labour that we encounter while browsing the internet. 

AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co

Hidden Labour of Internet Browsing

Collage depicting human-AI collaboration in content moderation. Multiple arms, screens, computer cursors and eyes highlight the extensive human labor involved.

This image highlights the role of human labour, rather than AI, in maintaining ‘appropriate’ virtual experiences. Societal imagination of AI is fueled by fantasy more than reality - there is a deliberate strategy for when to and when not to reveal the human labour within AI systems. The role of the ‘content moderator’ is often overlooked and assumed to be an automated system. There is a blurring between human and technical achievement. Content moderators are doing a lot of ‘heavy lifting’ in this loop. Their eyes are scanning the screens, to ensure the content we encounter is appropriate. The repetition of the eyes speaks to the scale of this labour and their anonymity. The orange witches’ hats are a reference to the boundaries they help construct, guiding the user ‘safely’ through virtual spaces.

AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission, which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co

Humans Do The Heavy Data Lifting

An array of colorful, fossil-like data imprints representing the static nature of AI models, laden with outdated contexts and biases.

This image uses the metaphor of the ‘fossil’ to represent the data which AI models are constructed of. The idea of fossil data helps to capture the contextless nature of many AI models. AI models draw upon millions of data imprints, from specific times and places. Such contexts are then stripped away when this data is then used in new ways. In using these ‘fossils’ to create new ideas and imagery, it is important to recognise the old prejudices and contextless ideas held within. Engaging with an AI dataset should therefore be seen as sorting through these old ideas (similarly to an archive) rather than presenting it as some kind of active learning superintelligence.

AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission, which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co

Models Built From Fossils

A brightly coloured illustration which can be viewed in any direction. It has several scenes within it: people in front of computers seeming stressed, a number of faces overlaid over each other, squashed emojis and other motifs.

This piece represents the user as a Chimera, a visual metaphor suggested by Kate Crawford (who wrote the book Atlas of AI), in which the “end-user” also provides (often unknowingly) valuable feedback, personal data and other invisible, unpaid labour. The illustration also brings out the contrast between their multi-dimensionalities and the flat, biased categorisations of the human in inputs and outputs of AI. AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911.   Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co

User/Chimera

A brightly coloured illustration which can be viewed in any direction. It has several scenes within it: miners digging in front of a huge mountain representing mineral resources, a hand holding a lump of coal or carbon, hands manipulating stock charts and error messages, as well as some women performing tasks on computers.

This piece focuses on the unsustainable extraction of mineral resources and exploitation of labour that constitute the seemingly disembodied AI system. Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co. AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. 

Labour/Resources

A brightly coloured illustration which can be viewed in any direction. It has many elements to it working together: men in suits around a table, someone in a data centre, big hands controlling the scenes and holding a phone, people in a production line. Motifs such as network diagrams and melting emojis are placed throughout the busy vignettes.

This piece features corporate power and profit sustained through exploitation, control and domination, lying in the hands of a few decision-making profiteers who are mostly white, and mostly men. Creative direction by AIxDESIGN - aixdesign.co. AI4Media https://www.ai4media.eu/ funded this commission which was made possible with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951911. 

Power/Profit

A dilapidated grey building is seen as in a 3D plan against a bright red background. 0s and 1s represent data streaming out of the windows and gaps in the roof.

Since AI is such a wide field of applications, tools, systems and more, it would be misleading to talk about it as if it were one universal thing. Even if we would look closer at one specific kind of artificial intelligence, we would see many layers or – let’s say – levels of algorithms that form one bigger system. This collage pictures AI as a building, or even a complex of multiple architectures, with different rooms, floors and windows. These are held together by a grid and are connected through a language. The image tries to communicate the complexity and plurality of these worlds, but also reminds that they are not a living being, rather a human made structure; hollow with no life in it.

AI Architecture

A young black man looks into the camera. He is wearing a dressing gown and has a towel around his neck. He applies a cotton pad to his face and wears a ring on his right hand. a list of words and numbers describe the man’s expression. Happiness 4.185, neutral 0.901, surprise 89.864, sadness 0.01, disgust 0.01, anger 5.021 and fear 0.01.

A young black man looks into the camera. He is wearing a dressing gown and has a towel around his neck. He applies a cotton pad to his face and wears a ring on his right hand. A series of dots linked by lines all in white creates a wireframe tracing the features of his face. In the top left corner, a list of words and numbers describes the man’s expression. Happiness 4.185, neutral 0.901, surprise 89.864, sadness 0.01, disgust 0.01, anger 5.021 and fear 0.01. "Emotion recognition" AI is increasingly being used in applications, despite it being built on scientifically dubious (or pseudoscientific) foundations which are criticised for being inconsistent with human rights, biased, inaccurate, and discriminatory.  If you wish to recreate this image in a different language, a blank version is provided at https://betterimagesofai.org/images?artist=Comuzi&title=MirrorB



Mirror D

This picture is made up of 3 images in a row, on a grey background. The first picture is an original photograph of a bowl of fresh strawberries, contrasted against the white bowl they are in a small white bottle of milk. In the middle, the photograph is now broken down into blocks of colour in the shape of the original strawberries. The final picture has been broken down even more, to the extent that the large blocks of colour are now no longer recognisable as strawberries and milk.

The work illustrates a popular type of machine learning model: the decision tree. Decision trees work by splitting the population into ever smaller segments. In the artist's words, "I try to give people an intuitive understanding of the algorithm. I also want to show that models are simplifications of reality, but can still be useful, or in this case visually pleasing. To create this, I trained a model to predict pixel colour values, based on an original photograph."

Strawberries and milk

Two people are illustrated in a warm, cartoon style, one on the left and one on the right. The person on the left, who has their back to the viewer, and is typing on a laptop which is sitting on a table. They are white, their hair is shoulder length and dark, and they are wearing a green t-shirt. The computer screen is dark with rows of coloured squares representing programming. The person on the right looks similar but their hair is now tied back in a pony tail, and they are wearing a white lab coat and safety goggles. They are reaching down to lift up an orange hazard label which is about the size of a book. The label is an orange square with a black exclamation mark in the middle. The person looks like they are being careful as they lift it.

This image is a still from a video created for the Data Hazards project, which can be watched here https://datahazards.com/. The project provides resources for data scientists. Here you see a researcher programming on the left, and on the right has donned their safety equipment to represent that they are considering the safety precautions necessary for a Data Hazard they have identified. Even though safety precautions may not look the same as they do in wet lab sciences, this image represents that it is still important to take precautions in data science work. We must still be careful, and mindful of risks in the same way that other scientists need to.

Safety Precautions

This picture is made up of 9 images in rows of 3. Each row shows a different image of a pill bottle spilling out pills onto a plain surface, on yellow or white backgrounds. On one side, the image is an original photograph. The next two iterations show it getting represented in progressively larger blocks of colour.

Medicines (flipped)

A hand drawn sketch in coloured pens depicts a small uniform row of houses at the bottom of the picture. From each of the houses, 0s and 1s representing digital data are floating up in plumes which look like smoke from the chimneys of the houses; but these are not uniform, therefore representing the different types of data from each house.

This image shows the digital flow that has become a proxy for direct and deliberate human communication. The artist sketched live in response to a conversation about generative AI in public services. "The reduction of our understanding of each other (in this case, a neighborhood of people in the UK) assumes a great deal – including people's understanding of, access to, and willingness to engage digital methods of interacting with society. If governments use data as a proxy for understanding, important signals will go unheard – whether they are just obfuscated in the data (one of these house's data smoke is asking for help) or missing entirely."

Little data houses (square)

Five people and a dog are seen outlined in orange, against an orange background. Two of the people talk to each other, one stands along with a stick, one walks a dog, and the other is in a wheelchair. All of them look at their mobile phones intently, and all cast shadows on the ground. The shadows are made up of network diagrams, being representative, rather than literal shadows.

This was originally an A4 report cover painting commissioned by Reset.Tech Australia for a policy briefing on misinformation and disinformation regulatory frameworks. The illustration shows people from all walks of life looking at their phones, being in a world of false information highlighted by the ominous flame-like colour of the picture. The people cast shadows of data and algorithms which represent the way in which they recieved the information, and are passing it on.

People on phones (portrait)

Medicines

An image of two leaves in red and yellow with a small square to the left of them depicting a zoomed in image of a green leaf. The zoomed in area is multidimensional and pixellated.

This image is part of the Google DeepMind collection "Visualising AI" (https://deepmind.google/discover/visualising-ai), with Flying Objects. XK Studio were commissioned and their approach was to abstract different areas where AI has the potential of aiding and enriching our lives, such as science, biology, climate change and environment, engineering and computing.

AI Lands

A group of five cloud shapes float across a blue background. The clouds are collages made out of close up photographs of shiny silver silicon surfaces.

This collage was made from a photograph of a silicon mono-crystal on a white background, a crucial component of AI when made into chips or CPUs. Picturing silicon visually asserts AI’s materiality and illustrates that the ‘mining’ of AI is not purely metaphorical but also a literal, material undertaking. Responsible for sustaining innovation within ‘Silicon valley’ / wider tech, silicon enables the packing of greater computational/processing power into a single surface, which is necessary for machine learning. In this picture, original pictures of silicon rocks are collaged into the shape of clouds to make the point that the "AI Cloud" – the merging of cloud computing and AI services – may sound very ethereal but actually relies on physical materials and mineral extraction. Catherine Breslin, the photographer, operates within the AI supply-chain first-hand in her work as a machine-learning voice engineer and consultant, previously involved in building Amazon Alexa.

AI silicon clouds collage

A shiny rock of silicon is on a plain white reflective surface, against a plain white background. Embedded in the rock is a rough shape of a silicon chip, which is made from the same rock of silicon

This is an AI generated image made from a reference image photograph by Catherine Breslin. The Better Images of AI team used Adobe Firefly as part of our policy to only use image generators which use consented, compensated training data (pictures). Our policy also includes using reference images from contributors. This reference photograph was of a silicon mono-crystal on a white background, a crucial component of AI when made into chips or CPUs. Picturing silicon visually asserts AI’s materiality and illustrates that the ‘mining’ of AI is not purely metaphorical but also a literal, material undertaking. Responsible for sustaining innovation within ‘Silicon valley’ / wider tech, silicon enables the packing of greater computational/processing power into a single surface, which is necessary for machine learning. In this picture, the image generator was prompted to show a rough chip emerging from the raw material. Catherine Breslin, the photographer, operates within the AI supply-chain first-hand in her work as a machine-learning voice engineer and consultant, previously involved in building Amazon Alexa.

Chipping Silicon

Seventeen multicoloured post-it notes are roughly positioned in a strip shape on a white board. Each one of them has a hand drawn sketch in pen on them, answering the prompt on one of the post-it notes "AI is...." The sketches are all very different, some are patterns representing data, some are cartoons, some show drawings of things like data centres, or stick figure drawings of the people involved.

This image shows the many different ways in which people might visualise the many different facets of AI. It shows the different applications, concepts, processes and technologies which 2 simple letters can mean. These post-it notes were drawn by the audience and team at the launch of the Better Images of AI Guide for Users and Creators https://blog.betterimagesofai.org/better-images-of-ai-guide/, held at The Alan Turing Institute.

Ai is... Banner

A neural network comes out of the top of an ivory tower, above a crowd of people's heads. Some of them are reaching up to try and take some control and pull the net down to them. Watercolour illustration.

The picture uses the metaphor of an ivory tower to show where decision making is done, with a representation of a neural network coming out of it, above a crowd of people's heads. Some of them are reaching up to try and take some control and pull the net down to them, but the image can also be read as AI targeting some of them. This image was commissioned for the relaunch of We and AI's website, which aimed to show a more handmade style, to reference the people involved in AI, the messiness of human production, but also necessity of codesigning together.

People and Ivory Tower AI 2

On the left, there is an image of a tree on a snowy, rocky landscape, with light shining in from the background. On the right, there is the same landscape, but it is now reproduced as grey and silver cubes in the shape of a tree and technical terrain, backgrounded by the light.

An artist’s illustration of artificial intelligence (AI). This visual depicts the process used by text-to-image diffusion models. It was created by artist Linus Zoll as part of the Visualising AI project launched by Google DeepMind. “Using AI to generate images is a fascinating and rapidly growing trend, and I was thrilled to explore this field when I was tasked with showcasing the workings of Large Image Models. My approach was to illustrate how the AI can transform a blank canvas into a finished artwork in an entirely automated manner. To convey the image data that the AI relies on, I decided to use cubes with different materialities that are sorted and reorganised until they form a surreal artwork.”

Generative Image models

A hand-drawn sketch in coloured pens depicts a small uniform row of houses at the bottom of the picture. From each of the houses, 0s and 1s representing digital data are floating up in plumes which look like smoke from the chimneys of the houses; but these are not uniform: they represent the different types of data from each house.

This image shows the digital flow that has become the proxy for direct and deliberate human communication. The artist sketched live in response to a conversation about generative AI in public services. "The reduction of our understanding of each other (in this case, a neighborhood of people in the UK) assumes a great deal – including people's understanding of, access to, and willingness to engage digital methods of interacting with society. If governments use data as a proxy for understanding, important signals will go unheard – whether they are just obfuscated in the data (one of these house's data smoke is asking for help) or missing entirely."

Little data houses

Seven people and a dog are illustrated in watercolour standing against a light blue background, in a variety of poses but all intently looking at their mobile phones. They are coloured in blue with yellow detail, and cast blue shadows. Their phones are all connected via a web like network in the air, showing various connection points. The image is portrait shape and allows space for text in the top left hand corner.

This image was commissioned for a report "Is political content over- or under-moderated?" by Reset.Australia. AI tools are sometimes used for content moderation. The report starts "Content moderation on social media can result in the removal, demotion or labelling of content that platforms deem to have violated their rules. Moderation is an important tool in mitigating systemic risks on platforms, especially when it comes from misinformation and disinformation. However, if moderation goes wrong, it can lead to content being either over-moderated (too much being inappropriately taken down) or under-moderation (not enough content that violates platform’s rules being taken down). Platforms can also create conditions of potential political bias if they over- or under-moderate in particular ways." 

Social media content

An image of multiple 3D shapes representing speech bubbles in a sequence, with broken up fragments of text within them.

An artist’s illustration of artificial intelligence (AI). This image depicts language models which generate text. It was created by Wes Cockx as part of the Visualising AI https://unsplash.com/blog/visualizing-ai-with-google-deepmind/project launched by Google DeepMind. 

“The process involves perceiving, synthesizing, and interfering with the data. Once the answer to the initial question takes shape, the animation displays a sequence of synonyms for three keywords: perceive, synthesize, and interfere. This is achieved by computing a probability distribution across all possible next words or sequences of words. The network then randomly selects a word or sequence by sampling from that distribution to generate the next word or sequence.”

AI large language models

An image of a butterfly perched on a branch, framed in a square, surrounded by seemingly energised earthy elements which are seen in a pixellated form.

This image depicts how AI could help understand ecosystems and identify species. It was created by Nidia Dias as part of the Visualising AI project launched by Google DeepMind https://unsplash.com/blog/visualizing-ai-with-google-deepmind/ “Driven by the current applications of AI in biodiversity, the concept for this piece aims to illustrate the speed and efficiency with which AI can identify species within a specific environment. To depict this, I wanted to design a piece of land that, in an abstract manner, could display ample diversity indicative of various species, thus symbolizing biodiversity. I tried to pair that with a somehow abstract nature, with the aim to maintain simplicity and to ensure its adaptability across different contexts. It's truly captivating to consider how AI's efficiency in species identification can save scientists valuable time, allowing them to focus more on environmental preservation and the protection of endangered species.”

AI for Biodiversity

Landscape shaped image. Four people are outside on a pavement in front of some railings and lush green foliage. Two of them have a white frame superimposed round their heads, showing them being surveilled, perhaps from a drone. 

Four people are outside on a pavement in front of some railings and lush green foliage. It is a relaxed scene and appears to be viewed through a camera with ‘time log information positioned in the top left and right corners respectively.. One sits on a bench and has an identification box around her bag and head. In original version of this image, identifying features including female and caucasian were displayed, but it has been left blank for use in different languages. Three men are in the centre-right of the image. On the original image one has an identification box with an ID number and identifying features listed as male, black, hoodie. Identifiers can be layered on to this image to show the kind of characteristics biometric systems might identify.



Surveillance View B

A young black man in a dark t-shirt looks at a mobile device. Behind him, a blue digital background shows images of the trainers he's looking at on his phone. A trail of digital heart shapes fades upwards indicating that the man in the image likes one of the images.

A young black man in a dark t-shirt looks at a mobile device, he is slightly turned to the right of the image. Behind him, a blue digital background shows images from a picture-based social network. Some images are washed with blue and one stands out without a blue wash, it is an image of a black sneaker. Above the mobile device a trail of digital heart shapes fades upwards indicating that the man in the image likes the photo of the shoe. White lines illustrate an algorithm making connections between the images.

Long portrait shaped image. 

Likes (tall)

Three groups of icons representing people have shapes travelling between them and a page in the middle of the image. The page is a simple rectangle with straight lines representing data. The shapes traveling towards the page are irregular and in squiggly bands.

This image shows an example of a Large Language Model in use. Data is gathered from groups of people communicating with each other. A machine learning algorithm is used to select segments of data from each group of people and then aggregate that data into a neat output. It is not obvious to human observers why specific segments of data were selected by the algorithm, as represented by the irregular geometric shapes. This image was created as the result of a Better Images of AI workshop at Science Gallery London as part of London Data Week 2023, in response to conversation with Dr Tamsin Nooney of BBC R&D.

Data Processing

Seventeen multicoloured post-it notes are roughly positioned in a square shape on a white board. Each one of them has a hand drawn sketch in pen on them, answering the prompt on one of the post-it notes "AI is...." The sketches are all very different, some are patterns representing data, some are cartoons, some show drawings of things like data centres, or stick figure drawings of the people involved.

This image shows the many different ways in which people might visualise the many different facets of AI. It shows the different applications, concepts, processes and technologies which 2 simple letters can mean. These post-it notes were drawn by the audience and team at the launch of the Better Images of AI Guide for Users and Creators https://blog.betterimagesofai.org/better-images-of-ai-guide/, held at The Alan Turing Institute. 

AI is...

Building blocks are overlayed with digital squares that highlight people living their day-to-day lives through windows. Some of the squares are accompanied by cursors.

This image illustrates the potential for bias in AI, in the setting of smart cities and provision of local services in a city. The image shows a variety of people carrying out their daily activities in a city, while various cursors and boxes show how some might be selected over others, or clustered by the data collected about them. The densely populated city with a mixture of buildings mirrors the design of a GPU. This image was created as the result of a Better Images of AI workshop at Science Gallery London as part of London Data Week 2023, in response to a public conversation with Sam Nutt.

AI City

Five people and a dog are seen in outline in orange, against an orange background. Two of the people talk to each other, one stands along with her stick, one walks a dog, and the other is in a wheelchair. All of them look at their mobile phones intently, and all cast shadows on the ground. The shadows are made up of network diagrams, being representative rather than a literal shadow.

This is a detail from a watercolour commissioned by Reset.Tech Australia for a policy briefing on Misinformation and disinformation regulatory frameworks. The illustration shows people from all walks of life looking at their phones, being in a world of false information highlighted by the ominous flame-like colour of the picture. The people case shadows of data and algorithms which represent the way in which they received the information, and are passing it on.

People with phones

A young black man looks into the camera. He is wearing a dressing gown and has a towel around his neck, and there is green wallpaper behind. His face is mapped with a white wireframe. 

A young black man looks into the camera. He is wearing a dressing gown and has a towel around his neck. He is running his right hand over his hair and wears a ring on that same hand. Overlaid on his face, a series of dots linked by lines all in white creates a mask-like image. The picture was inspired by thinking about emotion-sensing AI, in which facial recognition technology is used to attempt to detect different expressions such as disgust, fear, and happiness. It is used in applications such as hiring, marketing, online learning, and monitoring employees. It can be inaccurate and biased, and not sensitive to cultural differences. 

Mirror B

Several small cartoon representations of people are linked by brown handdrawn lines representing a network.

This is a detail from a watercolour commissioned by Reset.Tech Australia for a report series on misinformation and disinformation.  It shows how people are connected in networks through which information can quickly spread, and the way the people are positioned within the representation of the network makes them seem as they are just points in an algorithm, which makes them vectors. The original image is a portrait cover with space for text, and a watercolour background.

Detail from Connected People

A watercolour illustration in two strong colours showing the silhouettes of four people, two of whom have dogs on leads. They all cast shadows, and vary between realistic representations and those formed by representations of algorithms, data points or networks. The people and their data become indistinguishable form each other.

As we live our semi-digital lives, we generate so much data, which is used for AI models. We can’t see it, but it’s like a shadow that follows us around. It’s usually profitable to companies that create platforms through which we generate this data. 

Data People

A neural network comes out of the top of an ivory tower, above a crowd of people's heads (shown in green to symbolise grass roots). Some of them are reaching up to try and take some control and pull the net down to them. Watercolour illustration.

The picture uses the metaphor of an ivory tower to show where decision making is done, with a representation of a neural network coming out of it, above a crowd of people's heads (shown in green to symbolise grass roots). Some of them are reaching up to try and take some control and pull the net down to them, but the image can also be read as AI targeting and some of them. This image was commissioned for the relaunch of We and AI's website, which aimed to show a more handmade style, to reference the people involved in AI, the messiness of human production, but also necessity of codesigning together.

People and Ivory Tower AI

Young adults are walking on a street. Two young women are on the pavement to the left of the image and five young men walk in the road. The road is empty of traffic and the people in the picture are relaxed and appear to be engaged in chatting with each other.  Overlaid on the image are identification boxes. All of the figures have ID boxes around them. 

Young adults are walking on a street. Two young women are on the pavement to the left of the image and five young men walk in the road. The road is empty of traffic and the people in the picture are relaxed and appear to be engaged in chatting with each other.

Overlaid on the image are identification boxes. All of the figures have ID boxes around them. The pictures appear to have been taken by a drone.

The image shows how information can be found about people using biometrics based on computer vision technology, and how unaware they might be.

Surveillance View A.

A young black man in a dark t-shirt looks at a mobile device. Behind him, a blue digital background shows images of the trainers he's looking at on his phone. A trail of digital heart shapes fades upwards indicating that the man in the image likes one of the images White lines illustrate an algorithm making connections between the images.

A young black man in a dark t-shirt looks at a mobile device. He is slightly turned to the right and stands in the right side of the image. On the left of the image, a blue digital background shows images from a picture-based social network. Some images are of trainers and footwear washed with blue and one stands out without a blue wash, it is an image of a black sneaker. Above the mobile device a trail of digital heart shapes fades upwards indicating that the man in the image likes the photo of the shoe. White lines illustrate an algorithm making connections between the images.

Letterbox landscape image 

Likes (wide) 

A person with their hands on a laptop keyboard is looking at something happening over their screen with a worried expression. They are white, have shoulder length dark hair and wear a green t-shirt. The overall image is illustrated in a warm, sketchy, cartoon style.  Floating in front of the person are three small green illustrations representing different industries, which is what they are looking at.  On the left is a hospital building, in the middle is a bus, and on the right is a siren with small lines coming off it to indicate that it is flashing or making noise.  Between the person and the images representing industries is a small character representing artificial intelligence made of lines and circles in green and red (like nodes and edges on a graph) who is standing with its ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ stretched out, and two antenna sticking up.  A similar patten of nodes and edges is on the laptop screen in front of the person, as though the character has jumped out of their screen.  The overall image makes it look as though the person is worried the AI character might approach and interfere with one of the industry icons.

A data scientist had found that their work (the algorithm depicted on their laptop screen) has ‘jumped’ out of the screen and threatens to cause problems with a variety of different industries. Here a hospital, bus and siren could represent healthcare, transport and emergency services. The data scientist looks shocked and worried about what trouble the AI may cause there.

AI across industries.

A laptopogram on a plain background with very simplistic black-outlined blocks stretching across the centre, almost end to end. The blocks are linked, but not solidly, often leaving small gaps between the objects suggesting they could still shift around and recombine.

This image shows a diagram of a neural network algorithm, created by a machine learning researcher to communicate the system’s architecture. Diagrams like this one are often drawn as a series of connected boxes. They depict cognitive functions as a linear procedures, comprised of basic building blocks that can be recombined to one’s heart’s content. The image is a ‘laptopogram’, created by exposing photographic paper using a computer screen and developed in the artist’s bathtub. The process preserves a digital artifact of AI research in silver crystals, returning a physical dimension to sterile data. Dust, scratches, and the marks left by the artist’s hands draw a connection to the role of the researchers' subjectivity in making AI.

Neural network diagram

Three colorful GPUs with their packaging cleanly removed laying on a white surface

The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is an essential part of modern AI infrastructure. It’s a special type of chip or electronic circuit that is used in mobile phones, personal computers, game consoles, workstations and cloud computing infrastructure. Its close cousin is the CPU (Central Processing Unit). GPUs were originally designed to process images and render graphics. Nowadays they’re used for other computational tasks as well such as training neural networks in deep learning. GPUs can process many chunks of data simultaneously which is called parallelization. As of 2018 the companies NVIDIA and AMD control nearly 100% of the GPU market. These photographs are known as “die-shots“. A die is a small block of semiconducting material, such as Silicon, that serves as the supporting material on which an integrated circuit is fabricated. Die-shots are close-up photographs of computer chips, from which the “packaging“ is removed, usually by undergoing a quite dangerous etching process involving sulfuric acid and high temperatures. The typical bright rainbow colors in die-shots do not represent the actual colors of the chips, which are mainly gray and silver. The artist has used a combination of external light sources, polarising filters on the camera lense and image post production to create the colourful effect. This picture shows three NVIDIA Turing Chips (TU104, TU106, TU116)

GPU shot etched 2

An person is illustrated in a warm, cartoon-like style in green. They are looking up thoughtfully from the bottom left at a large hazard symbol in the middle of the image. The Hazard symbol is a bright orange square tilted 45 degrees, with a black and white illustration of an exclamation mark in the middle where the exclamation mark shape is made up of tiny 1s and 0s like binary code. To the right-hand side of the image a small character made of lines and circles (like nodes and edges on a graph) is standing with its ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ stretched out, and two antenna sticking up. It faces off to the right-hand side of the image.

An illustrated person looks up at a large hazard symbol, which has a character representing data science and AI ‘standing’ next to it. The AI character is made up of nodes and edges (like a network diagram). The hazard symbol is the General Data Hazard from the Data Hazards project, and is a large exclamation mark made up of binary code.

Here, the person is considering the Data Hazard and how they could use it to help them manage the risks the AI has been causing.

Managing Data Hazards

A block of silicon (also known as a mono-crystal) placed on a plain black background and photographed in HD to make its rich, reflective and complex surface visible.

This image shows a silicon mono-crystal on a neutral background, a crucial component of AI manufacture: a block like this would be sliced into 12 inch diameter wafers to form the base of CPUs. Picturing silicon visually asserts AI’s materiality and illustrates that the ‘mining’ of AI is not purely metaphorical (e.g. data mining) but also a literal, material undertaking. Responsible for sustaining innovation within  ‘Silicon valley’/wider tech, silicon enables the packing of greater computational/processing power into a single surface allowing for more efficient data movement, the co-location of memory and processing and parallelisation of function, necessary for machine learning. Catherine Breslin, the photographer, operates within the AI supply-chain first-hand in her work as a machine-learning voice engineer and consultant, previously involved in building Amazon Alexa.

Silicon on Black 1

A photographic rendering of a young black man standing in front of a cloudy blue sky, seen through a refractive glass grid and overlaid with a diagram of a neural network.

This image shows a young black man wearing a black coat staring past the camera in front of a blue cloudy sky. The scene is refracted in different ways by a fragmented glass grid. This grid is a visual metaphor for the way that new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies can be used to extract and analyse behavioural and demographic data in innovative ways. Some of the grid squares reveal graphical interpretations of the man that exceed the capabilities of human vision, indicating how cutting edge technologies offer ways to augment traditional human understandings of complex phenomena. A neural network diagram is overlaid, familiarising the viewer with the formal architecture of AI systems.

Quantified Human

A young woman sitting in front of a computer in an office while another woman standing next to her is pointing at something on her screen. They are both dressed in casual clothes - a bright blue top and furry waistcoat, and a denim jacket.

Data annotation is becoming a professional field of its own, with many annotators working on it as full-time employees, following complex guidelines, and using a variety of different tools and platforms. What used to be considered 'menial' and 'low-skilled' work, is today a nascent field with its own complexities and skills requirements, which involves extensive training and specializing in different modalities: video labeling, medical imagery labeling, 3D LiDar labeling, and so on. It is important to recognize the value that data annotators bring and their expertise, in order to uplift them from the 'ghost work' position in which they are now.

A trainer instructing a data annotator on how to label images

A laptopogram based on a neutral background and populated by scattered squared portraits, all monochromatic, grouped according to similarity. The groupings vary in size, ranging from single faces to overlapping collections of up to twelve. The facial expressions of all the individuals featured are neutral, represented through a mixture of ages and genders.

This image shows face images from the Olivetti faces dataset, created at AT&T Laboratories Cambridge in the early 1990s. The portraits are scattered across the image and grouped by similarity. The image is a ‘laptopogram’, created by exposing photographic paper using a computer screen and developed in the artist’s bathtub. The process preserves a digital artifact of AI research in silver crystals, returning a physical dimension to sterile data. Dust, scratches, and the marks left by the artist’s hands draw a connection to the role of the researchers' subjectivity in making AI.

Data flock (faces)

Abstract microscopic photography of a Graphics Processing Unit resembling a satellite image of a big city

The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is an essential part of modern AI infrastructure. It’s a special type of chip or electronic circuit that is used in mobile phones, personal computers, game consoles, workstations and cloud computing infrastructure. Its close cousin is the CPU (Central Processing Unit). GPUs were originally designed to process images and render graphics. Nowadays they’re used for other computational tasks as well such as training neural networks in deep learning. GPUs can process many chunks of data simultaneously which is called parallelization. As of 2018 the companies NVIDIA and AMD control nearly 100% of the GPU market. These photographs are known as “die-shots“. A die is a small block of semiconducting material, such as Silicon, that serves as the supporting material on which an integrated circuit is fabricated. Die-shots are close-up photographs of computer chips, from which the “packaging“ is removed, usually by undergoing a quite dangerous etching process involving sulfuric acid and high temperatures. The typical bright rainbow colors in die-shots do not represent the actual colors of the chips, which are mainly gray and silver. The artist has used a combination of external light sources, polarising filters on the camera lense and image post production to create the colourful effect. This picture shows a “NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280”

GPU shot etched 5

A photographic rendering of a young houseplant against a neutral background, seen through a refractive glass grid and overlaid with an single neuron from a neural network diagram.

This image shows a houseplant against a neutral background. The scene is refracted in different ways by a fragmented glass grid. This grid is a visual metaphor for the way that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies can be used to extract and analyse biological data in innovative ways, and the repetitive and self-similar structure of these systems. A single neuron from a neural network diagram is overlaid, revealing an augmented data view of the plant.

Plant

Silicon on Black 2

Silicon Closeup

Abstract microscopic photography of a Graphics Processing Unit resembling a floor plan or fractal art

The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is an essential part of modern AI infrastructure. It’s a special type of chip or electronic circuit that is used in mobile phones, personal computers, game consoles, workstations and cloud computing infrastructure. Its close cousin is the CPU (Central Processing Unit). GPUs were originally designed to process images and render graphics. Nowadays they’re used for other computational tasks as well such as training neural networks in deep learning. GPUs can process many chunks of data simultaneously which is called parallelization. As of 2018 the companies NVIDIA and AMD control nearly 100% of the GPU market. These photographs are known as “die-shots“. A die is a small block of semiconducting material, such as Silicon, that serves as the supporting material on which an integrated circuit is fabricated. Die-shots are close-up photographs of computer chips, from which the “packaging“ is removed, usually by undergoing a quite dangerous etching process involving sulfuric acid and high temperatures. The typical bright rainbow colors in die-shots do not represent the actual colors of the chips, which are mainly gray and silver. The artist has used a combination of external light sources, polarising filters on the camera lense and image post production to create the colourful effect. This picture shows a “Radeon R9 290” by AMD.

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