Reality Check for AI Prophecies
- Apr 24
- 2 min read
Updated: May 7
some AI-deologies out there are really out-there
A technology with civilizational, planetary consequences, AI is a gravitational heavyweight that moves all of us, one way or another—whether we want it or not, know it or not, care or not.
With the stakes of progress at an all-time high, it's invaluable to understand what AI is and isn't, what it does or doesn't do, who it benefits and how, what it destroys and why.
The understanding of a technology should precede its usage, but here we are, users and inventors alike, staring into pandora's box without really knowing what we're looking at, let alone what we let out.
Catch-up is a dangerous game if you're playing it in the fast lane of an unknown road—and running only gets you so far when you're running after something that's over your head.
The fact that nobody knows where this is headed doesn't stop anybody from playing guessing games, which are always fun but never really productive.
It doesn't help when those intellectuals who could make sense of AI, don't make much sense, or postulate nonsense—shiny theories that look brilliant but crumble under the pressure of scrutiny.
In schools of thought where intellectual radicalism speaks louder than moderate and nuanced pragmaticism, teaching becomes preaching, and those dubious prophecies echo beyond academia.
This page is a forum for the discourse that orbits the constellation of AI, art, and academia. As an evolving topic, it merits a dynamic environment, so check back here for updates.
a theory of lemons that is bananas
my answers to the questions Fontcuberta didn't ask
PetaPixel just published an essay co-authored by Boris Eldagsen and me, which should be an interesting read beyond the photographic community, with implications for anybody who consumes images. The article is a critique of Joan Fontcuberta’s “algorithmic photography,” presented in his latest book. Since we are mentioned in it, Boris and I saw it necessary to respond to an artist and intellectual who theorizes that we're past the distinction between photography and AI imagery—a hypothesis that starts with a lemon tree and ends with reality and imagination in a blender, which makes for a smoothie that tastes a bit off and is quite hard to digest.
Read our collective PetaPixel essay A Necessary Critique of Fontcuberta’s Algorithmic Photography for the full picture, discover Boris' perspective on his website, or look at it through my lens by reading on here:
lost in latent space
Fontcuberta. Chatonsky. Eldagsen. Astray.
The conversation around our PetaPixel essay is already picking up across the art community. For a rebuttal of our rebuttal check out Grégory Chatonsky’s opinion piece, which is a powerful train of thought, derailed only by the faulty tracks it runs on as I explain here:
