LAS Art Foundation and Google Arts & Culture unveil AI artist residency works

[BlackPanther34]

For something a bit more creative, Google Arts & Culture Lab has written about its online artist residency with the LAS Art Foundation, focused on digital world building and simulating living systems. Two artists were commissioned to explore frontier AI research and use it to think about life, matter and consciousness. The results are now viewable on the Google Arts & Culture website and the LAS Art Foundation site. It makes a change from the usual AI headlines about safety and money

Xin Liu created a work called nom nom, which explores the idea of collective intelligence emerging from millions of interacting particles. It uses Neural Cellular Automata, a type of model where lots of tiny neural networks each react only to their surroundings. Liu said she wanted to explore an image of intelligence distributed across millions of tiny networks. It is a lovely idea, especially as most AI today is built as one huge centralised model

Eunjo Lee made In Your Eyes, Before My Own, which pulls together ancient philosophy, linguistics and modern psychology. The piece combines hand drawn sketches, 3D assets, motion captured choreography and the sounds of Korean Hangul. Lee described the commission as opening up a vast alchemical laboratory. Google's Veo video model and its Nano Banana tool, used to turn images into 3D assets, were among the tools involved

This sort of project raises the familiar debate about AI and art. Some people see it as a new medium, like photography or video once were, while others worry it undermines human artists. Here, at least, the artists are clearly in the driving seat, using AI as one tool among many alongside drawing and choreography

Has anyone had a look at the works yet? I would be curious whether people think residencies like this help artists, or mostly serve as good publicity for the tech companies funding them

Experience two artists' perspectives on philosophy, science, and AIblog.google

[Sophie80]

Both pieces sound like the artists used AI as a tool rather than letting it do the work. Hand drawn sketches and motion capture alongside Veo is a real creative process

That is the kind of AI art I can get behind. It is still clearly the artist's vision

[Myles16]

Neural Cellular Automata are fascinating to watch. Tiny rules producing complex patterns that look almost alive. Liu picking that as a theme for collective intelligence is a clever choice

The patterns look like cells dividing. Strangely hypnotic

[ElectricCanopy]

Had a look at nom nom and it is mesmerising, with swarms of particles forming and breaking apart. Worth ten minutes of anyone's time

[AntiMatterX69]

Of course it is partly publicity for Google. Every tech company funding art gets something out of it. That does not make the art worthless though. Patrons have always had motives, from the Medici onwards. What matters is whether the work stands up

[Puma29]

Artists being paid to experiment with new tools is a good thing. Most artists cannot afford to spend months testing technology without income. Residencies give them room to explore without pressure to sell. I would rather this than AI companies ignoring the arts completely. It also gives artists a voice in how these tools develop

[Glowing]

Woah, just saw this. The concept is decent, but calling it an 'art residency' when it is mostly a collab between a non-profit and a big tech giant feels like a stretch. It is basically sponsored content with a creative veneer. If the artists are being paid well, then fine, but let us not pretend this is some organic artistic breakthrough. It is just corporate philanthropy with a very polished press release.
Also, the fact that they are calling this 'digital art' in 2024 is doing a lot of heavy lifting. We have been past that phase, folks.