• My dream with AI started with curiosity about how technology can extend to the boundaries of artistic expression. I was fascinated by the possibility of emerging traditional art and forms of traditional artistry to create something entirely new and engage my passion for innovation and to explore AI as tools to enhance my creative visions and bring artistic ideas to life in ways I could only dream or imagine. (Sean Caesar)

This is a special episode of the conscient podcast featuring a panel at  The Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2024 presented by Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement of Ontario (CPAMO) in collaboration with the Nia Centre for the Arts on on June 6, 2024 in Tkaronto,

This episode will begin with a talk by Alica Hall, Executive Director of the Nia Centre for the Arts, who spoke about the history of the building where the Nia Centre is situated in Tkaronto and of the history of the black arts community in Tkaronto and in Canada. 

After this, you'll hear presentations by artificial intelligence arts expert Sean Caesar (aka Tungz Twisted) and technology consultant Alex Hocevar, however because of the poor quality of the recording in a reverberant space, you’ll also find a summary of their presentations in the Transcript section of this episode.

For example, Sean observed that:

• We need to get on board to the table to discuss the implications of the diversity of representation and equitable inclusion. We're at a crossroads where it could be very detrimental to us, future forward. 

And Alex noted at the end of this presentation that :

• This should all be taken with a grain of salt until the technology in society gets to the point to say, what is real? What is realistic? How am I using this and am I getting the answers that will help me make a good positive decision?

Note: After Alica’s presentation and words of welcome by CPAMO curator of programming Kevin Ormsby I have re-recorded my introduction in order to have better audio quality.

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Welcome to the 'Impact of Technology on the Practice of the Arts’ panel as part of Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement of Ontario (CPAMO) The Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2024.

A warm welcome to our audience here at the Nia Centre for the Arts in Tkaronto and also to those joining us online from across Canada and those listening offline on conscient podcast, episode 184.

My name is Claude Schryer. I’m a composer by training and I worked for 21 years at the Canada Council for the Arts where I ran the Inter-Arts Office and was an advisor. I recall, around 2008, when the NIA Centre For The Arts was created, how it was a challenge for the Council to find a home for this kind of multipurpose multidisciplinary arts organization, which I think has since been resolved, however I’m aware that many artists and arts organizations continue to struggle with finding the right category in our  arts funding systems.

For example, is artificial intelligence an art form, is it a method, is a tool? All of the above, none of the above? What criteria do we use to assess artificial art making? And it’s a bit ironic that the word artifice comes from artificium, which is Latin for "artistry, craftmanship, craft, craftiness, and cunning." That root also gave us the English word artificial. Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word art. 

I’m now retired from the public service and have become an art and climate activist. For example, I was co-founder of the Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency or SCALE. I also produce the conscient podcast about art and the ecological crisis, ainsi que sa version française, le balado conscient. 

I also invite you to consider the implications of art and technology in the context of the climate emergency and the ecological crisis, which a topic we explored at the 2021 fall edition of Gathering Divergence on the theme of ‘IBPOC arts in planetary renewal’ which you can listen to those conversations on conscient podcast episodes 92, 93 and 95.

So the theme of this year’s Gathering is Visioning Canada’s IBPOC Artistic Transformation: Navigating Beyond Precarity Towards Stability and this is the lens through which we will be exploring the impact of technology on the practice of art. 

Some of the questions our panelists will consider include

·   Does working with Artificial Intelligence in the arts lead to innovation, emergent practices and artistic transformation or does AI jeopardize creativity and lead to further precarity for artists? We might not know, yet…

·   In what ways are these new technologies, and in particular AI impacting the creation, dissemination and preservation of art? 

·   What relationships do artists need to create about and with AI and digital technology?

·   Who has access to the infrastructure and how it is being programmed and are all worldviews being included?

·   Are there integrative ways in which artists and arts organizations can continue to use digital technologies? What are some of the barriers?

·   In what ways are creative rights and revenue generation impacted by AI and generative technologies?

·   How is Al being used to make decisions that shape the trajectory of our lives, including creative control of artistic production?

·   Finally, what does all of this techno fantasy matter when our planet is on fire and we are facing imminent societal collapse due to ecological overshoot of our planet’s boundaries?

And before we go any further, I want to admit that I’m not that excited about artificial intelligence, even though I have used it in my artwork and in my podcasts. I’m personally more interested in the contributions of traditional knowledge keepers from around the world who have always known how-to live-in harmony with the earth and with all living beings.

This being said, there are reasons for hope. For example, I attended a presentation last week by Leasi Vanessa Lee Raymond of Concordia University about the Abundant Intelligences research program which explores how Indigenous Knowledges and Systems can expand and transform AI.

In a nutshell, this research project has published a position paper, Indigenous Protocol (IP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is a starting place for those who want to design and create AI from an ethical position that centers Indigenous concerns.

Indigenous ways of knowing are rooted in distinct, sovereign territories across the planet. These extremely diverse landscapes and histories have influenced different communities and their discrete cultural protocols over time. 

The aim of the Abundant Intelligences project is to articulate a multiplicity of Indigenous knowledge systems and technological practices that can and should be brought to bear on the ‘question of AI.’

In other words, as proposed by UNESCO & MILA (Québec Artificial Intelligence Institute) in 2022 our challenge is ‘to develop Al systems that are human-centered, inclusive, ethical, sustainable, as well as upholding human rights and the rule of law’.

That's generally not how capitalism works but it’s something to aspire to. 

Another example of policy work on AI is the Disruption on the Horizon report by Policy Horizons Canada, which predicts the following disruption in relation to AI: 

• People cannot tell what is true and what is not : The information ecosystem is flooded with human- and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content. Mis- and disinformation make it almost impossible to know what is fake or real. It is much harder to know what or who to trust. More powerful generative AI tools, declining trust in traditional knowledge sources, and algorithms designed for emotional engagement rather than factual reporting could increase distrust and social fragmentation. 

Emotional engagement is fertile territory for artists so we have a lot to think about. I think that’s enough background information for now. 

So it’s my great pleasure to facilitate this morning’s panel with two experts in art and artificial intelligence, Sean Caesar and<a href="https:/