Spv: Petra Jääskeläinen
Project 1: Speculative design research: imagining the future of Creative-AI tools
Background
Throughout history, artists have worked with different kinds of tools; brushes and paint,
sculpture, photoshop, video editing tools, etc. Some artists are currently exploring the next
development: using AI-enabled tools in their artistic practice.
Task
The purpose of this project is to develop speculative prototypes; to explore what kind of
AI-powered tools there could exist for artists in the future. Relevant questions are; how could artistic practice look like in the era of AI? What kind of creative possibilities could
AI-powered tools open up to artists? The speculative prototypes do not need to be functional, but rather to imagine different possibilities and scenarios of how these tools might look like – and how they might be used by artists.
Methods
Speculative design approach will be used to materialize the imagined prototypes/scenarios,
and the prototypes will be explored in collaboration with artists to get their feedback on it
throughout the process. The research approach is research through design, using speculative design methods, and potentially accompanied by other qualitative research methods.
Initial references
● Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (book) – Anthony
Dunne and Fiona Raby
● Speculative design project examples:
https://blog.depositphotos.com/speculative-design.html
● Beyond Speculative Design: Past – Present – Future:
https://speculativeedu.eu/beyond-speculative-design-past-present-future/
● AI Artists.org (a collection of artists and currently existing tools) https://aiartists.org
Supervisor: Petra Jääskeläinen
Project 2: Design of creative-AI interfaces/interactions for environmental sustainability
Background
Throughout history, artists have worked with different kinds of tools; brushes and paint,
sculpture, photoshop, video editing tools, etc. Some artists are currently exploring the next
development: using AI-enabled tools in their artistic practice. However, the environmental
impact of AI artistic practice and the energy usage of these tools is not a factor that many
artists are aware of.
Task
The purpose of this project is to explore how sustainability could be approached in the design of Creative-AI prototypes. What design characteristics could inform, facilitate, or orient artists towards less wasteful ways of using Creative-AI technologies? How could artists understand their resource usage? The prototypes do not need to be functional, but rather to explore potential design characteristics of these tools – and test how they might be perceived by artists.
Methods
HCI approaches will be used to develop, explore and test the prototypes with artists to
understand their perception of the design. The research approach is research through design, using prototyping, and potentially accompanied by other qualitative research methods.
Initial references
● AI Artists.org (a collection of artists and currently existing tools) https://aiartists.org
● Environmental impact of AI art/Creative-AI:
https://computingwithinlimits.org/2022/papers/limits22-final-Jaaskelainen.pdf
● Carbon tracker tools: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3546155.3546668
Supervisor: Petra Jääskeläinen
Project 3: Energy measurement of Creative-AI technologies
Background
Many artists are currently exploring AI-enabled tools in their artistic practice. However, the
environmental impact of AI artistic practice and the energy usage of these tools is a factor
that is not well known.
Task
The purpose of this project is to explore sustainability of Creative-AI tools or technologies.
What is the energy consumption of various AI models in different stages of the project
lifecycle (training and deployment)? How could we use AI in creative practice in less wasteful ways in terms of energy consumption? The project involves training, running, measuring, and comparing the electricity consumption of various AI technologies used by the artists. It is required to have experience in machine learning to engage in this project (prior experience of training and running the models).
Methods
Quantitative energy measurements and evaluation of AI technologies.
Initial references
● AI Artists.org (a collection of artists and currently existing tools) https://aiartists.org
● Environmental impact of AI art/Creative-AI:
https://computingwithinlimits.org/2022/papers/limits22-final-Jaaskelainen.pdf
● Energy measurement of Deep generative Audio Models:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.02621
Supervisor: Petra Jääskeläinen