<aside> 🧚🏽 “Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within”.

RUHA BENJAMIN Professor, Author, Founding Director of Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab

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01_The Context

Search for images of ‘artificial intelligence’ and you'll find photos of shiny humanoid robots, glowing blue brains, or the Terminator. These images are used in news stories, blog posts, opinion articles, lectures and press releases – all the place we turn to learn about AI and machine learning.

Search of Unsplash.com for “AI”, Screenshot from 9 Aug 2023

This imagery reinforces dangerous misconceptions, and at best limits the public understanding of the current use and workings of AI systems, their potential and implications. AI4Media is teaming up with Better Images of AI and AIxDESIGN to curate a season of artist commissions & community open call to re-imagine a better visual language for AI.

Our goal is to add new images to the public discourse so we can begin to use a more nuanced – and perhaps representative – visual language for AI. At project end, we will publish free-to-use stock images in the Better Images of AI library that avoid perpetuating unhelpful myths about artificial intelligence.

We are inviting artists and image-makers to make better images of AI that help us interrogate questions like:

• How can we better understand nuanced socio-technical concepts like ‘Responsible AI’?
• Does it help the public understand the technology and its positive and negative consequence for citizens? for society?
• How do our mental models of AI shape our expectations for the technology?

02_About this Open Call

AI4Media, in partnership with Better Images of AI and AIxDESIGN, will commission 3 artists to create new stock images of AI, published as stock imagery on the Better Images of AI gallery, available for free and public use under the Creative Commons by 4.0 license.

If commissioned, each artist will work independently to create images, meeting two times with the project team to present concepts, ask questions, and receive feedback as we iterate towards the final 3 images. More details about image requirements can be found in Section 03_Image Brief.

Important bits

• Each artist will produce a minimum of 3 final images for the Better Images of AI gallery; developed in collaboration and based on guidance and feedback of the project team
• Each artist will be paid €1500 stipend for their contributions (images & involvement)

How to apply

DEADLINE: Monday, Sept 25th midnight CET

APPLY HERE: CLOSED

We welcome expressions of interest from artists and image-makers who are interested in critical cultural discourse and/or Responsible AI. As part of the application, we want to better understand:

• Your interest in making better images of AI,
• Which topic(s) below you’d like to visualise, and
• Concepts, directions, and approaches you’d like to explore in your work.

Please note: applicants are not expected to be experts in Responsible AI. The AIxDESIGN team will help you navigate current critical AI discourse to create a focused image brief upon selection.

Selection criteria

25% – Artist interest in critical perspectives on culture, digital technologies

25% – Commerciality, or images that could be used as stock imagery by mainstream media in stories about AI