Artificial intelligence in the work of Kasper Jordaens
The speed at which artificial intelligence is increasingly taking on a role in technology and – often unconsciously – in our daily lives is unprecedented. AI and technology therefore raise many practical, social and ethical questions. For Kasper Jordaens, this search for the role of technology and the merging of man and machine forms the core of his work. He describes himself as an artist-researcher. We spoke to him about how he views AI and what role it plays in his work.
text and photos: Ben Money-Kyrle (23/11/2024)
Upon entering his studio, you immediately get a sense of what Kasper Jordaens means by the term “artist-researcher.” His workspace is filled with machines, homemade synthesizers, and tools that look as if they could belong in an engineer’s workshop as well as an art studio. “My mission is to create, but also to test and reveal truths about the growing technologies that surround us, the human influence on them, and vice versa,” Jordaens says. “I have always been fascinated by technology, but I approach it with caution and curiosity. I am aware of both its possibilities and its problems.” Themes such as privacy, the malleability of facts, and the limits of artificial intelligence are therefore at the heart of his work.
Alternative Facts
`A good example that touches on several of these themes is his installation 'Alternative Facts' (2023). In this work, Jordaens deconstructs the way information is presented by the media. Using articles from The Guardian, he created a system that reinterprets the same news facts through a different lens - left, right, conspiratorial, diplomatic or entertainment-oriented. “I was surprised that I felt drawn to reading every version the system generated and that I started to believe the different perspectives, even though I knew they were made up.”
“If I were to develop the project further,” Jordaens noted, “I could create articles tailored to each website and generate AI images tailored to the angles of each article.” 'Alternative Facts' was thus a precursor to the 'Fake News Lab' (2024), an installation that automatically generates and presents fake news. During his lecture performance at Div.fuse, Jordaens will elaborate on and demonstrate this work.
Demystifying AI
Jordaens always embraces technology with a certain amount of scepticism. This is also evident from the programs he uses. He avoids AI from big brands and opts for open source technologies (technology that is freely available for the public and coders to use and work with, ed.) and also contributes to it himself. “I borrow a lot of technology, so I also try to give something back,” he explains. “Sharing my process is a fundamental part of my work. I don’t want to hide anything unless it’s too unfinished or too messy to show. My goal is to demystify AI, not to hide its secrets. That would inevitably create a fear of technology.”
The project 'Let's Get This Party Started' (2024) playfully brings the workings of AI itself to the foreground. It is an installation with two types of AI: one that believes it is human and one that is aware that it is an AI (and proud of it). These two “personalities” engage in a surreal dialogue in the work, supported by speech-to-text systems and vintage telephones. Viewers start the conversation by approaching the installation and saying “Let's get this party started”. As the conversation unfolds, the imperfect communication of both AI personalities strangely reveals human error and misunderstandings, as the dialogue is conducted via analogue technology.
With his installations and interactive media literacy initiatives, Jordaens encourages people to see AI for what it is: a tool, not a replacement for human ingenuity. “In my view, AI is not a replacement for human creativity,” he says, “but a new partner in the creative process. But most of all, I want people to know what the possibilities are. It is so powerful and so good that you have to learn the difference between AI and humans.”
“AI is first and foremost a tool and like any tool, its impact depends on the hand that wields it.”
Information processing and privacy
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The power of AI lies in processing information and learning from it. This also brings the importance of privacy to the fore in this topic. What can machines learn from our behaviour and from information that can be found about us? Social networking sites, for example, learn a great deal about us from the way we use the platforms, what interests us and what data we disclose on them.
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In his master's thesis at Ghent University, Jordaens researched a small (and now defunct) social networking site. His early enthusiasm for data and connectivity has since turned to scepticism due to his observations of the ways in which large tech companies interpret and use user data via AI. ‘Data Intersect Study’ (2021-24) is a series of installations and exhibitions that focus on this concern and show how much of our personal information is accessible online and how it can be misused by mega-corporations. Some of the data he used came directly from Facebook, such as all the names of people listed as single on the networking site in Antwerp. The question is always what happens to that information. AI is primarily a tool, and as with any tool, its impact depends on the hand that wields it.