Human-X-AI-Installation
CVPR 2025 AI Art Gallery
London Tech Week 2025
UAL CCI Winterfestival 2024
ThisworkexaminesthecreativepotentialofgenerativeAIbyexploringitscapabilitiesbeyondconventionalapplications.Whilemostimagegenerativemodelsaretrainedtoreplicatepatternsfromvastdatasetsusingtextinputs,thisinstallationinvitesparticipantstoengagewiththesysteminamoreexperimentalandinteractiveway.Throughatouchinterface,visitorscandirectlyexplorethelayersofagenerativeneuralnetwork,revealingunexpectedbehavioursandoutcomes.
BymakingAI'sunderlyingprocessesaccessible,theinstallationaimstodemystifyhowthesesystemsoperateandgeneratetheiroutputs.Itoffersahands-onwaytothinkcriticallyaboutthemechanicsofAI,movingbeyonditsroleasatoolforreplicationtohighlightitspotentialasamediumforexplorationanddiscovery.
Usingnetwork-bendingtechniques,whichmodifyandmanipulatetheinternalrepresentationofastablediffusionmodelduringinference,thisworkIntroducesnovelinteractionwiththeinternalarchitectureofadeepgenerativemodel.TheexperiencepromptsvisitorstoreflectontheassumptionsandpossibilitiesofAI,fosteringadeeperunderstandingofitspotentialrolewithinthecreativeprocess
Inthevideoabove,theon-screenimagecanbemanipulatedbymovingtheXYcoordinatesonthetouchinterface.AseriesofmachinelearningregressionalgorithmssimultaneouslymapstheXYcoordinatestomultiplenetwork-bendingtransformations,whichareappliedtotheimagetensorwithintheU-Net.Ontheright-handsideoftheinterface,severalbuttonsrepresentdifferentlayersofthedownsamplingblockwithintheU-Net.Whenabuttonispressed,thecorrespondingtransformationsareappliedtothatlayer,shapingthefinaloutputanditsvisualcharacteristics.
AudioVisual
Below is an audiovisual created using the same technique. Music written and performed by me
Behind the scenes
ThetouchinterfaceservesasanabstractionfortheTouchDesignerpluginIdevelopedduringmydissertationatUAL’sCreativeComputingInstitute.TheXYcoordinatesontheinterfacearemappedtotransformations,whichsendtheirrespectivevaluesviaOSCintotheU-Netofthediffusionmodel.Thepluginalsoenablesuserstoupdatethepromptandseedinrealtime,withtheabilitytosaveandloadbothpresetsandoutput.