Generative AI: Race, Art, and Power

From ChatGPT, DALL-E, Bard, and Midjourney, the use of AI as a creative tool has increased dramatically both from technological breakthroughs and a flood of new users. Users and researchers have offered both praise and criticism - about the veracity of AI-generated art, race and gender bias engrained in these systems, and the exploitation of work from marginalized groups within training data.

Join three dynamic experts to expand on these themes and to facilitate discussions about generative AI and its effects at the intersections of race, art, and power.

Sessions will explore questions such as:

• Who suffers most when it comes to the potential replacement of working artists and writers?
• How is knowledge created through the use of generative AI? Whose work gets to be remembered?
• Who speaks and who listens; who is at the table when it comes to conversations surrounding art and generative AI?
• Is AI-generated art high-art or low-art? Can it be considered “art” at all? What can be considered creativity?
• What does the future landscape look like for activism in the problem space of generative AI?

Co-sponsored by:

• Algorithmic Fairness and Opacity Group
• AI Security Initiative
• Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity
• CITRIS Policy Lab

Thursday, September 14 | 10:30am to 12:00pm

Tara Kola is a Senior Experience Researcher on the Adobe Design Research & Strategy team, leading research for Education. She specializes in conducting ethnographic and mixed methods research on child and adolescent creative activities, entertainment consumption, and narrative practices, inside and outside of classrooms. She supports content, design, and product teams in making research-driven decisions. Tara has experience conducting research and fieldwork across the US, India, and China. She is passionate about creative education, representation in media/entertainment, and building inclusive communities. She has a research background in anthropology and history. Outside of research, Tara runs a storytelling summer camp/afterschool program for South Asian youth called Camp Kahani.

*VIRTUAL*

Thursday, November 9 | 10:30am to 12:00pm

Michele Elam is the William Robertson Coe Professor of Humanities in the English Department at Stanford University, a Faculty Associate Director of the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and a Race & Technology Affiliate at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity

Elam’s research in interdisciplinary humanities connects literature and the social sciences in order to examine changing cultural interpretations of gender and race. Her work is informed by the understanding that racial perception in particular impacts outcomes for health, wealth and social justice. More recently, her scholarship examines intersections of race, technology and the arts. “Making Race in the Age of AI,” her most recent book project, considers how the humanities and arts function as key crucibles through which to frame and address urgent social questions about equity in emergent technologies.

Thursday, November 16 | 10:30am to 12:00pm

Şerife (Sherry) Wong is a Turkish-Hawaiian artist working on AI governance. She leads Icarus Salon, an organization that explores politics, culture, and technology through art. Her advocacy work for justice in AI and more active roles for artists in policymaking has been recognized through several awards: a residency fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, a research fellowship at the Berggruen Institute, a Mozilla Creative Award, a residency at the Media Enterprise Design Lab, and she was listed as one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. She serves on the board of directors for Digital Peace Now and is the culture and AI governance lead at the Tech Diplomacy Network. Şerife frequently collaborates with the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University to bridge conceptual art with the social sciences.

As a leader in art and technology, she has served on award committees for Ars Electronica, Burning Man, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Previously, Şerife has had solo art exhibits in New York (I-20 Gallery), San Francisco, Vienna, and Mexico City; and exhibited internationally at venues such as Art Basel Miami, Shanghai Art Fair, FIAC Paris, ARCO Madrid, and Art Cologne. Her work uses research and activism as mediums of art to create performances, social sculptures, paintings, videos, happenings, and interactive web-based work. She is currently working on Artificial Life Coach, a comedic performance art piece that uses social media to educate the public on AI.

Accessibility Accommodations

If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting, CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about mobility access in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Rachel Wesen at cltcevents@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7–10 days in advance of the event.