Owning the System

This event will welcome Jake Elwes, Eva Jäger and Nadia Piet to the AA for a discussion of how we can strive to create ethical systems that operate outside emerging corporate frameworks. Join them to imagine ways we can build our own foundational AI systems and practices to serve our communities.

Systems Overhaul: How can Architects embrace AI is a series organised by Kirsty Edginton which explores the intersection of AI, architecture, and action. As AI tools, predominantly owned by large corporations, become increasingly profit driven and reflect Western biases through their training data, there is growing concern about their ethical implications and the agendas behind them. A recent RIBA survey revealed that 41% of architects now use AI, primarily with these out-of-the-box commercial tools. However, open-source and self-coded AI is still accessible and can be taught, allowing for grassroots innovation and disruption.

The collection of talks highlights the work of architects and artists addressing AI's inequalities and designing ethical AI tools. It also explores how AI can be used to inspire us to envision different and imaginative futures. By focusing on these efforts, we can underscore the importance of taking action to shape the future of AI.

Speaker bios:

Jake Elwes (b.1993, UK) is an artist, hacker, radical faerie and researcher living in London. Jake studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL (2013-17) and their work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. Across projects that encompass moving-image installation, sound and performance, their work finds unusual ways of demystifying, mapping and subverting technology. Works include deepfake drag in The Zizi Project, glitching oppressive algorithms in Machine Learning Porn and reframing AI generated marsh birds back into nature in CUSP. They have been making art exploring the aesthetics and ethics of machine learning systems since the very first generative AI models in 2016. Jake’s work also calls for us to challenge who builds these systems and for what purpose, and whether we as artists and queers can reclaim these technologies to build our own digital utopias.

Eva Jäger is Curator of Arts Technologies at Serpentine gallery in London. She commissions artists working with advanced technologies and is a collaborator in teams designing novel approaches, workflows and philosophies of emerging tech. Most recently she curated ‘The Call’ a project made in collaboration with the artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. Eva is also part of the team working on Future Art Ecosystems as a researcher for the annual briefing (most recently Future Art Ecosystems Vol. 4: Art x Public AI). She is also a Co-Investigator of the Creative AI Lab (Serpentine R&D Platform and King’s College London).

Nadia Piet (she/her) is an independent researcher, designer, and organizer focussed on AI, technology, (digital) culture, creativity, and participatory practices. She is the founder & creative director of AIxDESIGN (a global community and decentralized lab for critical AI since 2019) and serves as faculty at ELISAVA’s MA in Design for Responsible AI. Nadia holds an MA in Data-Driven Design and a BA in International Business Innovation and her creative work has been featured in venues such as the Design Museum Den Bosch, DEMO Festival, Moving Arts Centre Amsterdam (MACA), and NEW INC.