it's me, but it's not
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
AI gone wild + 4 exhibitions, 3 books, and 2 eyes on 1 prize
„Looks strangely familiar, but more strange than familiar,” I said to my friend Boris Eldagsen when he shared this post with me. This is me, but it’s not my face. My facial features have been “AId.” And it’s not my name either. The caption refers to Boris and the story of how he won a photo award with his famous AI-image The Electrician, whereas the post’s picture shows my FLAMINGONE—a real photo that won an AI award. What a Frankensteinish manner to patch together an abomination of a post.
Unbridled AI, going wild. And only one person in the comment section noticing the elephantine monster in the room. A fake image paired with the wrong caption, dumped onto an unquestioning audience by a page called “learnthis”—if I were to put it in a world-sized nutshell: this is everything that is wrong with everything. Need I say more? Let me leave you with some semi-rhetorical, semi-existential questions instead (there will be spoilers, if anybody wants to give their attention span a good stretch first with some old-school spot the difference):
read on
How much are we loosening our grip on reality if we believe in AI as our creator?
What sacrifices does it demand in exchange for the little wonders it bestows upon us?
How much does truth suffer when it is being butchered?
Am I a thief if I steal from a thief by reposting their loot?
Does AI’s clusterfuckery make copyright experts cringe, collapse, or crack up?
How much branding does the machine feed on, seeing that it gave my Nikon lens Canon’s red signature ring?
How and why did a smile turn into a laugh, and a clean-shaven look into a beard?
What medication is there for people infected with an urge to go viral no matter what?
Where can we enroll for media literacy? Where can we learnthis?
your choice, my chance
vote FLAMINGONE, win £500
FLAMINGONE famously won a people's choice award, but didn't get to keep it when I revealed its true nature. Now it is eying another public vote award—at the Nikon Comedy Wildlife contest—and this time for the keeping. You could help make that happen, and win £500 with your vote. "Could be the most profitable 2 mins ever spent," according to the organizers, so good to us both and thanks;)
exhibitions, exhibitions, exhibitions
FLAMINGONE is currently on display at two European museums: the Dutch Natuurmuseum Brabant as part of the Comedy Wildlife exhibition, and the Enigma Museum of Communication in Copenhagen for AI & You. My work Action Activism will be exhibited in the UK later this year, and can already be seen in the virtual Counter Records show. On the other side of the pond, EYEVERSITY is making a splash by the seaside after the grand opening of Embracing Our Differences at Sarasota's Bayfront park.
Check out the video to see this terrific outdoor installation:
books, books, books
FLAMINGONE can be spotted in "Birds, Birdier, Birdiest," a nifty book published by Bengal bird nerd Debasis Das. It will also appear in "Latent Images," a forthcoming title produced by Italian publishing house Mimesis Edizioni. And I'm thrilled that A TOUCH OF NATURE has been selected for a new book by Shutter Hub Editions in the UK.
latest content
No matter how elastic your attention span, I got you covered—explore some of my latest words, lines, passages, and essays.
So long,
Miles