Questacon’s newly launched exhibition, Friend or Foe – the Rise of Artificial Intelligence, is a stimulating and immersive exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated artwork that asks viewers to consider the themes of copyright and ownership, the nature of creativity, and bias in AI, with Radio 2CC Weekender Host Tatjana Clancy and TechAdvice.Life Editor Alex Zaharov-Reutt talking to Luke and Dr Cerini about this fantastic exhibition!
Friend or Foe features more than 100 AI-generated artworks curated by Australian digital artist Luke Millanta. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a 11-minute digital artwork presented on the Questacon QMAX large format screen, along with a range of other stunning digital artworks that seek to interrogate society’s relationship with AI.
Luke Millanta is an incredible Guinness World record holder, software developer, entrepreneur, former Chief Technology Officer and now AI digital artist – and that was before his collaboration with Questacon as detailed below!
‘We are delighted to have partnered with Australian digital artist and technologist, Luke Millanta, to create this exhibition and present our visitors with the opportunity to navigate and explore AI,’ said acting Questacon Director Dr Bobby Cerini.
‘Over the past several decades we have seen AI technology become increasingly embedded within society. With numerous online tools released recently, AI has been embraced by everyday people across the world, who are using AI to complete a range of tasks from the simple to the complex.
‘As the National Science and Technology Centre, it is fitting for Questacon to be able to offer visitors an exhibition about AI and the debates that inevitably accompany its use,’ Dr Cerini said.’
Luke Millanta said that it is exciting to be able to present this exhibition at Questacon, Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre.
What Luke had to say is directly below the audio interview with both Luke and Dr Bobby from the 18th of November, 2023.
‘Instead of waiting to see how the dust settles on AI technology and reflecting on it, we can have conversations about ownership, copyright and ethics, as they are happening, in real time.
‘The feature artwork in Friend or Foe is narrated by an AI robot and presents the capability and shortcomings of generative AI, a particular type of artificial intelligence that is capable of generating text, images, or other media, using generative models. These models learn the patterns and structures of their input data and then generate new data that has similar characteristics.
‘The AI robot takes viewers through a series of prompts, that present artworks that mimic well-known artistic styles, portray gendered roles, question originality and include ‘mistakes’.
‘Visitors will be left considering, is it permissible for AI to mimic the work of human artists? Can AI be truly ‘creative’? Is AI reinforcing harmful stereotypes? And what are its limitations?
‘I hope this exhibition will ignite a dialogue about the role of AI in our lives and societies’ values towards the attitudes presented by technology,’ Mr Millanta said.
The exhibition was officially launched by the Hon Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science, to coincide with the launch of AI Month, an initiative of the National AI Centre, which sits within Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.
More details on the exhibition here!
