Exploring AI as a Subject in Participatory Visual Research
Traditionally, participatory visual research has focused on human subjects, enabling individuals to express personal experiences through collaborative visual mediums. This project pioneers a novel approach by positioning artificial intelligence (AI) itself as the subject of participatory research, thereby expanding the methodology's scope.
Methodology Overview
The project employs a multi-layered process involving several AI models to generate a composite digital narrative:
Image Generation: An initial concept reflecting human perception is input into a convolutional neural network to produce a synthetic image. For example, the word “Chaos”
“The most flexible thing in the office is the cubicles. The cubicles don’t have another purpose beside doing business
Text Generation: This image is then fed into a separate AI model that interprets visual data to generate descriptive text.
Audio Synthesis: The generated text is subsequently processed by a text-to-speech AI, resulting in an audio representation of the narrative.
Conceptual Framework
This methodology draws inspiration from participatory visual research techniques, which involve collaborative creation of visual content to convey personal or communal experiences. By adapting these techniques to involve AI as both participant and subject, the project challenges traditional boundaries and explores new dimensions of AI-human interaction.
Outcomes and Implications
The resulting digital narratives offer a unique perspective on human concepts as interpreted by AI, providing insights into the interplay between human input and machine-generated output. This approach not only broadens the application of participatory research methodologies but also contributes to the discourse on AI's role in creative and interpretative processes.
#HAPPINESS
#CHAOS
How The project Began
Prior to the new methodology, endless trials have been made to mirror AI into itself, by reflecting it’s conversations back. The results where mixed, since every time we talked my human presence was visible. My questions remained - how can AI reveal it’s inner self without human interference?