Design & AI Symposium 2023

Interfaces are not what they used to be. Reflecting on the histories and trajectories of digital interfaces, we look at how they have extended beyond surfaces, buttons and levers to something that cuts across infrastructures and entangles the planet, often beyond access and control. How can we navigate these new terrains?

Podcast Recording

Moderator: Elisa Giaccardi

Panelists: Christian Ulrik Andersen, Ksenia Fedorova, Yuxi Liu, Grace Turtle, Rob Collins

Location: Mondai Room (Ground Floor)

Christian Ulrik Andersen is an Associate Professor at the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University. His research on interface criticism provides critical perspectives on contemporary digital interfaces. His book (with Søren Pold) The Metainterface (MIT Press, 2018) examines the aesthetic, cultural, and infrastructural implications of today’s interfaces.

Ksenia Fedorova is a media art researcher and lecturer at Leiden University. Her book Tactics of Interfacing (MIT Press, 2020) explores the changing notion of the self and ways in which it relates to the world in the context of digital technologies and through the process of interfacing.

World Making with Love!? A collective and open manifesto for just and pluralistic AI futures - Meike Hardt
Next Level (ground Floor)

Within this workshop, we are going to discuss “love” as a political framework and critical lens to “wrestle” with power dynamics inscribed in current AI design practices. Love has been discussed in intersectional feminist movements and theories as a relational and affective force for transforming racism, patriarchy, sexism, and capitalism.

Field Guide to the AI Bestiary - Pei-Ying Lin - Participatory Taxonomies Building Session
Next Serendipity (1st Floor)

This workshop aims to develop a series of methodologies to study the ‘bestiary’ of artificial intelligence as if it were a subject of natural science. Pei-Ying Lin, Janet Yi-Ching Huang, Pauline Vaandrager, Anna Merl, Rick Knops - Eindhoven University of Technology, Garden of Forking Paths

Well Being & Health
Next 2U + Connection (1st floor)

• Embracing AI’s Imperfections: Rethinking the Role of AI in its Relationship with Humans - Elcin Hanci & Minha Lee
• Aesthetics of algorithmic care - Karin Bogdanova
• Wellbeing, what else? Prioritizing human flourishing in AI alignment - Willem van der Maden

Performance
Next 2U + Connection (1st floor)

• Putting Movement First: An Exteriority Perspective on the Design of Human-Robot Interactions through the Performing Arts - Alcubilla Troughton, I. (Irene)
• Dramatic Things: Enacting the value conflicts at smart home - Nazli Cila and Maria Luce Lupetti 
• The Performing Arts as a Lens for Technical Advances in Human-robot Interaction - Kim Baraka

AILIXR - Ruben Dekker - Interactive canvassing and prototyping tool for AI
AILIXR is a digital canvassing tool (similar to Miro). In addition to standard canvassing features (notes, drawings, etc.), users can create functional, digital prototypes and workflows using an intuitive node editor. The tool enables the collaborative design and rapid prototyping of ML pipelines, and it is aimed at students, UX designers and data scientists.

Mix & Match ML Toolkit - Anniek Jansen, Sara Colombo - A hybrid physical-digital toolkit
A hybrid physical-digital toolkit, which provides relevant ML knowledge to UX designers to support their ideation processes. The toolkit features a set of tangible tokens representing data types and ML capabilities, a sensing board, and a web interface.

No Problem Department - Wendy Wen - A Sciffle Box game for value communication
A serious game to enhance corporate value communicaion through a game developed using ChatGPT and the Sciffle Box. Sciffle Box is a gaming diverse with four scanners that allow players to interact with ChatGPT by scanning cards with QR codes. The game aims to bridge the gap between personal and corporate values, fostering deeper understanding and alignment among employees.

Prediction of 3D Fabric physics through AI - Yulia Zelenina - Creation of realistic 3D models that accurately represent the characteristics and textures of various fabrics
This research project aims to bridge the gap between the physical and digital realms by leveraging AI techniques for fabric physics classification. The ultimate goal is to enhance fidelity and realism in 3D modeling and simulation, allowing users to interact with digital fabrics in a way that closely resembles real-world materials.

Personal companionship POS - Eric Gu - Challenging the future of the subscription models
This installation is a satirical piece of challenging the future of the subscription models in combination with AI and customization. The installation is a digital shop, where visitors can choose their own preferred digital companionship in the form of a bot. There is a standard model, but when the visitor wants more features (such as more humor, or more compassion), the visitor “pays” more. When finishing the preferred model, the visitor will get a receipt with a QR code, that let’s them interact with the customized chatbot that is run through AI.

Game we'll never play - This is not a DUO -  A variation of Guess who? A game based on facial recognition.
How would we play such a game if the faces were incredibly similar, all look-alike to each other? The ones that appear in this game were generated in multiple sets via a StyleGAN neural network, trained to render human faces. The genetic traits of each face in a set have been calibrated to be unique, yet extremely similar to the others in that specific set.

Coloured Realities - Sukriti Garg - This installation challenges the filter people see the news through
News has always needed to be objective and written through journalistic criteria. However, with new media (such as social media), it is harder to see which news is real or subjective. Additionally, values and style of writing is a personal, subjective preference. This installation challenges the filter people see the news through, by customizing current news articles with two settings to choose from, 1) the writing style and 2) values. A news article is shown on a screen and the visitor is invited to turn two buttons with different settings. Once the two settings are chosen, the news article changes with AI into a new article, written in the preferred style and with the value in mind. For example, a “poetic” writing style, means that the text is written in rhyme and choosing the value “conservative”, the news article is written with a right wing political stance. The visitor is faced with a reflection in how they receive news, knowing that they are part of a bubble.

Ground Shifting: A one-to-one Conversation about AI in Education
Heba Daghstani, Fleur Van Stratum

Next Serendipity (1st floor)

In this workshop, participants will engage in one-to-one conversations following the Ground Shifting method. By Unraveling their thoughts on AI in Education, participants will explore their assumptions and aspirations. Through reraveling, they will engage in introspection, reassessing their perspectives and critically examining their ideas. Finally, in the shifting phase, participants will collectively question the processes and knowledge surrounding AI in Education, leading to innovative insights and collaborative solutions.

Prototyping Human-AI Interactions through Role-Playing!
Kostas Tsiakas

Next Level (ground floor)

This workshop aims to bring together designers to explore this method for prototyping interactions between users and AI models. Through a set of role-playing activities, we will engage the participants in creating and presenting their own HAI interaction scenarios. The goal is to raise a discussion and share insights towards supporting the co-creation of HAI interactions taking into consideration high-level design guidelines and frameworks for Responsible AI.

Reflexivity
Critical Data Curation: Crafting Human-AI Reflexive Practice
Anne, Arzberger, Maria-Luce Lupetti, Elisa Giaccardi

Exploring the Interstitial Space Between Prompt and Imagination: ‘When Images Remain. A Visual Polemic in 8 Acts’
Catelijne van Middelkoop

Education
Experiential Speculation in Vision-Based AI Design Education: Designing Conventional and Progressive AI Futures
Janet Yi-Ching Huang, Stephan Wensveen, Mathias Funk

Grasping AI: experiential exercises for designers
Dave Murray Rust, Maria-Luce Lupetti, Iohanna Nicenboim

Generative AI in Design: Serendipity, Randomness, or Chaos?
Eric Heng Gu

AI & Design is a fast-moving field with many emerging developments. That's why we are hosting an Unconference format on the second day of the Symposium. 

An Unconference is a bottom-up event that makes it easy for participants to discuss any topic that they find important. It is very simple! We start by gathering topics of interest from the attendees. Then we organize short 20 minute sessions, based on those topics. This is a chance to propose ANY topic to discuss — and hopefully, to find and engage with people who share (or disagree with) your interests.

Before the symposium, we'll send out an email to all participants that links to a form to submit your favorite topics for the Unconference. At the Symposium itself, we will encourage attendees to add new ideas.

Policy experiment: how can EU policies empower the crossover between design and AI?

Participatory workshop for developing recommendations to the European Commission on how to support Innovation on and with AI for the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs).

At the AI Policy Corner experiment you have a direct say in the policies the European Commission should develop on AI for the CCIs. You are invited for mapping opportunities and influences related to AI, define and prioritise potential policy areas and suggest future Research and Innovation actions the EU should support.

The AI Policy Corner experiment is organised by the European Cultural and Creative Industries Policy Platform (ekip). This Horizon Europe project is developing a network-driven policy recommendation engine to continuously drive the formulation and adoption of policy development recommendations for Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). The AI theme is the first policy area ekip will advise the European Commission on. More information: www.ekipengine.eu