- nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Rentokil pilots facial recognition system as way to exterminate rats
by Alberto Cammozzo Jan. 22, 2023

Jan. 22, 2023

...“cities of the future”... <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/21/rentokil-pilots-facial-rec…> The world’s largest pest control group is piloting the use of facial recognition software as a way to exterminate rats in people’s homes. Rentokil said it had been developing the technology alongside Vodafone for 18 months. The surveillance technology, which is already being tested in real homes, tracks the rodents’ habits and streams real-time analysis using artificial intelligence. A central command centre can then help to decide where and how to kill the rats caught on camera. Rentokil’s chief executive, Andy Ransom, told the Financial Times: “With facial recognition technology you can see that rat number one behaved differently from rat number three. “And the technology will always identify which rat has come back, where are they feeding, where are they sleeping, who’s causing the damage, which part of the building are they coming from, where are they getting into the building from, whether it’s the same rodent that caused the problem last week.” In developing the technology, Rentokil watched rats in a controlled environment, with cameras monitoring their behaviour patterns. Machine learning using an AI system allows it to build the recognition capabilities. Ransom said the purchase of the Israeli market leader Eitan Amichai in December had given Rentokil access to “significant technology”. The new system is being piloted by customers including food producers and offices. Rentokil intends to expand its operation and has acquired 300 businesses since 2016, according to reports. The group is targeting “cities of the future” in countries that could soon experience a pest population boom, such as China, India and Indonesia. “If you can identify which cities are going to have a massive influx of population, you can pretty much conclude that they’re going to have significant rodent problems,” Ransom said. In more positive news for rats, scientists recently discovered that they find rhythmic beats irresistible and instinctively move in time to music. The ability was previously thought to be uniquely human. “Rats displayed innate – that is, without any training or prior exposure to music – beat synchronisation,” said Dr Hirokazu Takahashi of the University of Tokyo. “Music exerts a strong appeal to the brain and has profound effects on emotion and cognition.”

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Re: [nexa] ChatGpt e la scuola
by alessandro marzocchi Jan. 21, 2023

Jan. 21, 2023

Domanda ai margini del tema: chatgpt potrebbe aiutare per indicizzare (suggerire indicizzazione) sentenze e testi giuridici riferendoli a leggi? Grazie fin d'ora per le risposte. Duccio (Alessandro Marzocchi)

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Re: [nexa] ChatGpt e la scuola (Maria Chiara Pievatolo)
by karlessi Jan. 21, 2023

Jan. 21, 2023

> 2. Re: ChatGpt e la scuola (Maria Chiara Pievatolo) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > On 21/01/23 01:34, Giacomo Tesio wrote: > >> >> E' questo il futuro che Google auspica con Classroom nelle scuole. >> Il futuro per cui lavora a tutti i livelli da anni. >> > > Mi pare infatti che meriti ripetere che usare ChatGPT a scuola significa > esporre docenti e studenti a una scatola nera occhiuta a proprietaria > che certo trae vantaggio dall'uso dei loro dati, ma che con la libertà > di un ambiente di apprendimento dovrebbe avere dalla manipolazione e > dalla sorveglianza non ha proprio nulla a che vedere. E sì, sono cose > che sa anche il gatto, ma dalla zelo con cui moltissimi fanno da cavie > e da propagandisti all'esperimento aziendale in corso, su un prodotto > finanziato da Microsoft, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, sembra che le sappia > *soltanto* il gatto. > > L'ultimo numero di Guerre di Rete (https://guerredirete.substack.com/) > parla proprio dell'hype dell'AI e segnala fra l'altro (non so se sia già > passato qui): > > https://irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2023/01/14/stop-feeding-the-hype-and-start-r… > > Aggiungo, in italiano, un piccolo commento precedente di .mau. > https://xmau.com/wp/notiziole/2023/01/04/sfruttati-da-chatgpt/ > > Felinamente, > MCP > Grazie per la ripetizione. Mi pare che sia un aspetto estremamente sottovalutato. Aggiungo, al di là della sorveglianza e manipolazione, un elemento sistemico. Avvalersi di strumenti proprietari e gestiti da organizzazioni militaro-industriali globali (i datacenter dei GAFAM ecc. sono protetti da ritrovati e procedure di livello militare, giova ripetere) non è la stessa cosa rispetto ad avvalersi di sistemi F/LOSS gestiti da organizzazioni differentemente organizzate, con obiettivi politico-sociali diversi, scale diverse, ecc. La metafora del cibo mi sembra adeguata. La filiera alimentare è sotto pressione, non solo nella ricca Europa, per fornire alimenti bio-equo-sostenibili-vegan a km 0 ecc. - è auspicabile che accada qualcosa di analogo nel digitale. La varietà dei sistemi biotecnici è l'unica garanzia ragionevole di evoluzione biotecnica non autoritaria e non oppressiva, come accade in qualsiasi altro ambito (agricoltura, tecniche costruttive adatte a diversi ecosistemi, lingue, ecc.). Alleanze, collaborazioni e meticciati con gli esseri tecnici dovrebbero essere guidate da una visione politica esplicita, che può essere di qualsiasi orientamento, ma almeno che sia esplicita. Invece viene presentata come una novità neutra, l'avvento di ChatGpt per esempio, monopolizza la discussione in ambiti diversi (monopolio radicale, avrebbe detto Illich), e tende a polarizzare posizioni "reazionarie" di chi non vuole "innovazioni" tecniche e posizioni "progressiste" di chi abbraccia queste "innovazioni" come occasioni irrinunciabili. Posizioni diversamente deleterie. però non c'è bisogno di sperimentare su di sé l'eroina per conoscerne gli effetti. Un nuovo oppiaceo sintetico difficilmente si allontanerà molto dai propri antenati. Quindi, non mi pare sia il caso di aiutare qualche miliardario convinto di essere il salvatore del mondo nutrendo le "sue" creazioni tecniche e giocando al suo gioco. Il fatto è che non si può cambiare facilmente l'imprinting di un sistema tecnico. Da chi e come è stato concepito, costruito (da dove vengono le materie prime per farlo funzionare? Come è fatto il software? Quali convinzioni stanno dietro le sue norme funzionali? ecc.) sono elementi dell'imprinting tecnico che tende a determinarne l'evoluzione. Questa dovrebbe essere una consapevolezza di base. Se gli algoritmi di riconoscimento facciale generano output classificabili come "razzisti" o "sessisti", non sarà facendo de-biasing e nutrendoli con dati "migliori" (migliori per chi??? per una qualche elite auto-nominata come consapevole e migliore del resto degli umani?) che si risolverà la questione. il razzismo o il sessismo non sono bias: sono ideologie più o meno esplicite che, al limite, sfruttano bias cognitivi. Ma dal bias di gruppo al razzismo ce ne passano parecchie di iterazioni perverse. Inoltre i bias cognitivi sono stati evoluti come euristiche fondamentali e volerli eliminare sfiora il suprematismo. vabbè mi sono perso, scusate, grazie ancora per la ripetizione: le scatole nere create per sorveglianza+manipolazione+profitto NON sono un buon viatico per strutturare ambienti di apprendimento (se si vogliono liberi e consapevoli). Sono ottime per l'addestramento e l'omologazione, questo sì. A breve mi aspetto versioni un po' gamificate, della dopamina in aggiunta renderà la routine ancora più irrinunciabile. buona giornata k. -- "tecnologie appropriate - https://alekos.net" "pedagogia hacker - https://circex.org"

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Re: [nexa] Could a robot ever recreate the aura of a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece? It’s already happening
by alessandro marzocchi Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

Avrei varie sollecitazioni: creare, ri-creare, aura nel significato di atmosfera quale complesso di emozioni. Mi limito ad un paio di riflessioni. Nell'universo della materia era prevedibile il sorgere del bios? Nel mondo animale erano prevedibili la specie umana, ciò che noi chiamiamo intelligenza, spirito e più avanti parola, pensiero, scrittura? Continuo con poche domande: come crea l'uomo? Saperlo ... non so rispondere Se ho ben capito, in lista Nexa più d'uno nega che la calcolabilità sia applicabile all'umano. Domando: meglio sapere che "la fronte scotta" oppure misurare la temperatura? I progressi che noi uomini abbiamo fatto sono attribuibili alle nostre esperienze, al loro accumularsi, al loro confronto? Con precisione maggiore oppure minore si tratta di misure, calcoli: sbaglio? Attività che cercano di ridurre l'equivoco per avvicinarsi all'univoco ...? Altra domanda: l'uomo è attore non sostituibile per il progresso? Neppure qui so rispondere. Senza arrivare al Sole, la luna è influenzata dal nostro esserci? Soffrirebbe per la nostra assenza? Per restare all'aspetto speculativo, Diogene aveva convinzioni diverse da Alessandro Magno. Per l'aspetto concreto, la macchina aiuta, sostituisce, l'uomo in attività sempre più numerose e ritenute esclusiva umana prima del non umano, prima della macchina. La stessa consapevolezza, coscienza, è argomento di dibattito. Il confine è qualitativo oppure quantitativo? Al momento e nei limiti di quanto so (e purtroppo ignoro) il vero confine mi sembra quello energetico, per "calcolare" l'uomo ha bisogno di meno energia rispetto all'automa e se domani prevalesse l'automa rispetto all'uomo tornerebbe la condizione di materia che prevale sul bios. Forse sbaglio, ma non ho certezze sulla vittoria nella competizione uomo macchina. Grazie e cordialità. Duccio (Alessandro Marzocchi) PS ("da Vinci" non è soltanto Leonardo è anche un robot che aiuta molti chirurghi in attività prima ritenute esclusivamente umane, credo abbia contribuito ad inventare il nome di chirurgia mininvasiva)

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AI governance and human rights Resetting the relationship - K. Jones - Chatham House
by Diego.Latella Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

Potrebbbe essere di Vostro interesse K. Jones AI governance and human rights Resetting the relationship Chatham House https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/01/ai-governance-and-human-rights?utm_sou… Buon fine settimana DL -- Dott. Diego Latella - Senior Researcher CNR/ISTI, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy (http:www.isti.cnr.it [1]) FM&&T Lab. (http://fmt.isti.cnr.it) CNR/GI-STS (http://gists.pi.cnr.it) https://www.isti.cnr.it/People/D.Latella - ph: +390506212982, fax: +390506212040 =================== I don't quite know whether it is especially computer science or its subdiscipline Artificial Intelligence that has such an enormous affection for euphemism. We speak so spectacularly and so readily of computer systems that understand, that see, decide, make judgments, and so on, without ourselves recognizing our own superficiality and immeasurable naivete with respect to these concepts. And, in the process of so speaking, we anesthetise our ability to evaluate the quality of our work and, what is more important, to identify and become conscious of its end use. […] One can't escape this state without asking, again and again: "What do I actually do? What is the final application and use of the products of my work?" and ultimately, "am I content or ashamed to have contributed to this use?" -- Prof. Joseph Weizenbaum ["Not without us", ACM SIGCAS 16(2-3) 2--7 - Aug. 1986] Links: ------ [1] http://www.isti.cnr.it

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ChatGpt e la scuola
by Alessandro Brolpito Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

Buongiorno, Come potrebbe essere usato ChatGpt a scuola? Se la "*scuola dovrebbe insegnare ai suoi allievi a fare le domande per formare innovatori,"* János Sándor Petőfi, l'articolo offre alcuni spunti su come ChatGpt possa essere utilizzato: Chi ha paura di ChatGpt a Scuola? Impariamo piuttosto a collaborarci - Agenda Digitale <https://www.agendadigitale.eu/scuola-digitale/chi-ha-paura-di-chatgpt-a-scu…> Alessandro

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The End of Programming
by Alberto Cammozzo Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

Non credo che questo accadrà, ma credo che sia uno dei desideri dell'industria ICT quello di rimpiazzare il processo di programmazione, che presenta diversi problemi di scala, con qualcosa di più gestibile industrialmente. <https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2023/1/267976-the-end-of-programming/fulltext> Viewpoint The End of Programming By Matt Welsh Communications of the ACM, January 2023, Vol. 66 No. 1, Pages 34-35 10.1145/3570220 [...] *Programming will be obsolete.* I believe the conventional idea of "writing a program" is headed for extinction, and indeed, for all but very specialized applications, most software, as we know it, will be replaced by AI systems that are /trained/ rather than /programmed./ In situations where one needs a "simple" program (after all, not everything should require a model of hundreds of billions of parameters running on a cluster of GPUs), those programs will, themselves, be generated by an AI rather than coded by hand. I do not think this idea is crazy. No doubt the earliest pioneers of computer science, emerging from the (relatively) primitive cave of electrical engineering, stridently believed that all future computer scientists would need to command a deep understanding of semiconductors, binary arithmetic, and microprocessor design to understand software. Fast-forward to today, and I am willing to bet good money that 99% of people who are writing software have almost no clue how a CPU actually works, let alone the physics underlying transistor design. By extension, I believe the computer scientists of the future will be so far removed from the classic definitions of "software" that they would be hard-pressed to reverse a linked list or implement Quicksort. (I am not sure I remember how to implement Quicksort myself.) AI coding assistants such as CoPilot are only scratching the surface of what I am describing. It seems totally obvious to me that /of course/ all programs in the future will ultimately be written by AIs, with humans relegated to, at best, a supervisory role. Anyone who doubts this prediction need only look at the very rapid progress being made in other aspects of AI content generation, such as image generation. The difference in quality and complexity between DALL-E v1 and DALL-E v2—announced only 15 months later—is staggering. If I have learned anything over the last few years working in AI, it is that it is /very/ easy to underestimate the power of increasingly large AI models. Things that seemed like science fiction only a few months ago are rapidly becoming reality. So I am not just talking about things like Github's CoPilot replacing programmers.^1 <https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2023/1/267976-the-end-of-programming/fulltex…> I am talking about /replacing the entire concept of writing programs with training models./ In the future, CS students are not going to need to learn such mundane skills as how to add a node to a binary tree or code in C++. That kind of education will be antiquated, like teaching engineering students how to use a slide rule. The engineers of the future will, in a few keystrokes, fire up an instance of a four-quintillion-parameter model that already encodes the full extent of human knowledge (and then some), ready to be given any task required of the machine. The bulk of the intellectual work of getting the machine to do what one wants will be about coming up with the right examples, the right training data, and the right ways to evaluate the training process. Suitably powerful models capable of generalizing via few-shot learning will require only a few good examples of the task to be performed. Massive, human-curated datasets will no longer be necessary in most cases, and most people "training" an AI model will not be running gradient descent loops in PyTorch, or anything like it. They will be teaching by example, and the machine will do the rest. [...]

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Re: [nexa] Could a robot ever recreate the aura of a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece? It’s already happening
by maurizio lana Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

> riferimenti più precisi in merito alla produzione delle immagini per quella campagna? in questo articolo "The San Francisco Ballet Is Catching Heat for Promoting Its ‘Nutcracker’ Performances With A.I.-Generated Art " del 23 dicembre 2022 (https://sfwrunway.com/the-san-francisco-ballet-is-catching-heat-for-promoti…) c'è una dichiarazione del portavoce del SF Ballet in merito all'utilizzo delle 30 persone : > “Almost 30 designers, producers, and creatives from native promoting > company contributed to our Nutcracker marketing campaign, which > presents us an opportunity to experiment with in the present day’s > technological instruments,” a SF Ballet spokesperson informed Artnet > Information through e mail. “We make use of a whole lot of San > Francisco artists on our phases, in our orchestra pit, and behind the > scenes each season, together with within the creation of our > advertising campaigns, and we glance ahead persevering with to take > action sooner or later.” il sito di BSSP (l'agenzia di comunicazione) comprensibilmente, credo, non dettaglia come ha operato con l'IA per il il SF Ballet (https://bssp.com/work/work-san-francisco-ballet-nutcracker/) perché questo è 'segreto industriale' in un certo senso Maurizio Il 20/01/23 10:25, 380° <g380(a)biscuolo.net> ha scritto: > Alberto Cammozzo via nexa<nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it> writes: >> Anyone inclined to dismiss the idea that AI could take over creative >> jobs as scaremongering should know: it is already happening. This >> winter, San Francisco Ballet used the independent research lab >> Midjourney to create the visual campaign for its production of The >> Nutcracker (although a representative for the ballet said that, >> despite using AI, nearly 30 human designers, producers, and creatives >> were also employed in the campaign’s making). > per favore Alberto o qualcun altro ha dei riferimenti più precisi in > merito alla produzione delle immagini per quella campagna? > > Io non trovo da nessuna parte la dichiarazione del rappresentante del > BSSP in merito all'utilizzo delle 30 persone impiegate nella campagna e > in che modo hanno interagito con gli strumenti basati sul machine > learning > > qui un articolo: > https://www.lbbonline.com/news/bssp-taps-ai-to-reimagine-the-nutcracker-for… > > ...ma non dice molto > > [...] > > saluti, 380° > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ lo straniero non parla e non capisce la nostra lingua, che non è più nostra, perché la nostra vera lingua diventa la traduzione, lo scambio l. ferrieri, dalla public library all’open library ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maurizio Lana Università del Piemonte Orientale Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli

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IFRI, "Sources d’influence. Enjeux économiques et géopolitiques des logiciels open source"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

*Sources d’influence. Enjeux économiques et géopolitiques des logiciels open source ** *Etudes de l'Ifri, décembre 2022 Alice PANNIER L’open source est au cœur de l’infrastructure internet, des solutions logicielles utilisées par les individus comme par les gouvernements, et des processus d’innovation des entreprises technologiques. Face aux menaces sur la sécurité et la pérennité du modèle open source, les États cherchent à se saisir de plus en plus du sujet, qui devient un enjeu géopolitique. L’open source tient une place centrale dans les logiciels : il est au fondement de briques logicielles critiques, et est devenu un élément déterminant dans les processus d’innovation des entreprises du numérique. Il est aussi une alternative attrayante aux solutions propriétaires. L’open source peut toutefois être victime de son succès et souffre d’un manque de moyens dédiés à sa maintenance. Or, les vulnérabilités dans les codes sources ouverts peuvent avoir de graves conséquences, comme l’a illustré la faille « Log4Shell » révélée en décembre 2021. Les entreprises privées investissent financièrement et humainement au développement et au maintien de l’écosystème open source. Cependant, cette implication n’est pas sans danger pour l’écosystème open source, qui est de plus en plus modelé par les intérêts privés des Big Tech. Parallèlement, les gouvernements sont de plus en plus préoccupés par les risques de l’open source en matière de cybersécurité, du fait de vulnérabilités accidentelles, mais aussi de la manipulation des codes par des criminels et des agents étrangers. L’analyse des cas américain, chinois et européen montre que l’implication des gouvernements dans l’open source n’est pas seulement pragmatique ; elle est de plus en plus politisée et sert à soutenir les ambitions des gouvernements en matière de sécurité nationale, d’influence internationale ou de souveraineté numérique. L’étude met en évidence les dilemmes qui émergent, pour les autorités publiques, des tensions entre le désir de sécuriser des composants open source critiques universels, le désir de développer des technologies « souveraines », et le risque d’empiéter sur le fonctionnement horizontal et décentralisé de l’open source. Cette publication est aussi disponible en anglais : *Software Power: The Economic and Geopolitical Implications of Open Source Software*

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Could a robot ever recreate the aura of a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece? It’s already happening
by Alberto Cammozzo Jan. 20, 2023

Jan. 20, 2023

[...] Anyone inclined to dismiss the idea that AI could take over creative jobs as scaremongering should know: it is already happening. [....] <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/02/robot-leonardo-da-vin…> This month, the internet was flooded with stunningly ethereal digital art portraits, thanks to the work of the latest artificial intelligence-assisted application to go viral: Lensa. Users uploaded their photographs to the app and then – for a small fee – it used AI to transform their profile pictures into, say, a magical elfin warrior princess version of themselves, in no time at all. This year has seen a breakthrough for AI-driven image generators, which are now better than ever in quality, speed and affordability. The AI models are “trained” on millions of pieces of image and text data scraped from publicly available content online, and as in the case of Microsoft-backed DALL-E, can turn short text prompts such as “Ronald McDonald performing open heart surgery” into unique images. Anyone can now produce professional-looking images tailored to their desires, without having any training in art or design themselves. If that sounds great to you, you might not be one of the millions of humans whose livelihoods depend on being able to exchange those skills for money. Those working in the more cognitive creative industries have long felt that they had nothing to fear from automation. After all, how could a computer ever recreate the aura of a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, or possess the unique skill set required to devise a compelling visual marketing campaign for a luxury brand? Early images generated with these tools were full of glitches that marked them out as machine-made. But as the results have become more convincing, creatives have grown more concerned. On the frontlines of this debate are gig workers such as graphic artists and commercial illustrators, who take art commissions based on client specifications. Anyone inclined to dismiss the idea that AI could take over creative jobs as scaremongering should know: it is already happening. This winter, San Francisco Ballet used the independent research lab Midjourney to create the visual campaign for its production of The Nutcracker (although a representative for the ballet said that, despite using AI, nearly 30 human designers, producers, and creatives were also employed in the campaign’s making). Another threat to artist livelihoods comes from these tools’ ability to create imagery “in the style of” specific artists. This functionality is fun when used to conjure up quirky visions of how Van Gogh might have painted Rishi Sunak riding into No 10 on a unicorn, but when it comes to living artists who have spent years developing their own distinctive style, the AI’s uncanny ability to mimic, without credit or compensation, becomes problematic. Earlier this year, fantasy art illustrator Greg Rutkowski found out that his name was one of the most popular prompts on the AI platform Stable Diffusion – more popular than Picasso or Leonardo. “The only thing that could at least stop feeding the algorithm is to stop posting your work on the internet, which is impossible in our industry,” says Rutkowski. The legal recourse for artists who feel these tools are infringing on their copyright is knotty and unclear. In the EU, lawyers are contesting the legality of using images under copyright for training AI models but as the UK bids to become an industry leader, it has already proposed a bill to allow carte blanche AI training for commercial purposes. Meanwhile it remains unclear if traditional copyright even applies here, as it is difficult to copyright a visual style. Open AI’s representation of ‘A sea otter in the style of Girl With a Pearl Earing by Vermeer’. Open AI’s representation of ‘A sea otter in the style of Girl With a Pearl Earing by Vermeer’. Photograph: OpenAI/AFP/Getty Images While these issues have only recently garnered mainstream attention, there are factions of artists who predicted this when the field was still in its infancy, and have been working to develop solutions. Among them are Berlin-based artists Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon, who have created a search function that anyone can use to see whether their work has been scraped for a 150-terabyte dataset called LAION, which is used to train most AI image generators. Their organisation, Spawning, is also developing another tool that would allow artists to set permissions on how their style and likeness can be used by the algorithms, including the option to opt out entirely. Both Stability AI – the organisation behind Stable Diffusion – and LAION have committed to partner with Spawning to honour consent requests made in advance of the next training of Stable Diffusion, and a recent update to the tool removed the ability to write prompts that specify an artist by name. There are other flaws in the vast open datasets on which the AI models are trained, which limit its potential. Deficiencies in the diversity of the data, as well as biases held by the humans who originally labelled the images it learns from, have unwittingly coded the models with harmful stereotypes and representations. Some users are finding that Lensa creates overly sexualised female avatars, exaggerates racial phenotypes in its outputs, and has difficulty reading mixed-race features. Such issues might give pause to anyone thinking of using the technology for commercial purposes – at least until the training datasets are improved. The Guardian view on ChatGPT: an eerily good human impersonator | Editorial Read more Many artists remain unfazed, and in fact believe the technology could open up possibilities for them to make better work, or at least to work more efficiently. Though she has not used it yet, the UK-based illustrator Michelle Thompson sees potential in the idea of using AI both to develop concepts and to refine artistic outputs. “I see it less as a threat and more of an opportunity,” she said, adding: “Like everything else, there will always be artists who can use the tools better.” These tools are only as good as the datasets they are trained on. Human imagination, on the other hand, has no limit. For Dryhurst, AI models “could attempt to make a pale version of something we did years ago,” but that “doesn’t account for what we might do next”. For those watching closely, the visual outputs of these widely available AI tools are already getting repetitive, and even untrained eyes will learn soon to recognise the hand of the machine. Some of the most interesting and conceptually rich work being made with AI is still coming from artists such as Mario Klingemann and Anna Ridler, who are customising their own training datasets, and curating the machine outputs in imaginative ways. The kind of artificial intelligence we might imagine replacing artists – an entirely autonomous creative robot capable of human-like imagination and expression – does not yet exist, but it is coming. And as AI becomes more ubiquitous, artists, illustrators and designers will ultimately be set apart not by if, but by how, they use the technology. Naomi Rea is European market editor at Artnet News, an online art industry newswire

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