"What You See AI Sees" conceptual illustration
april, 2023
illustration, design research
project overview
Artificial intelligence has been a hot topic of debate as of late. For illustrators, the topic feels almost even more inescapable; however, the consequences behind AI are larger than just creative industries, including illustration.
In this project, we were instructed to choose a topic of interest around AI, and then a negative or positive stance through our research. From there we had to create one 18” x 24” conceptual poster, printed and mounted. This project goes over my research and brainstorming process, and my final poster.
The topic I chose was related to Al, algorithms, and the way Al collect can collect data from online users.
project process
research
While this was not primarily a research project, there was still some amount of research required to be familiar enough with the general concept of AI. I familiarised myself with the basics of AI, how it functions, and the process of how AI learns.
This is called "Al training", and is used in both search engines and social media platforms, making it inescapable. While the data collected and analysed creates more personalised online experiences, it is also used to exploit human behaviours; both keeping users online for longer, or manipulating them into making purchases an algorithm has sneakily recommended to them based on search history.
There is a huge breadth to AI and what it can do. Some of it is very simple, some is far more complex, to the point where AI can actually operate on its own without human intervention.
brainstorming
After my research, my brainstorming began by outline several topics of interest; ranging from AI and algorithms, AI data analysis, the reduction of human error in certain jobs, how AI is modelled to replicate human decisions making.
I mapped out how my ideas connect to and branch off of one another, and organised them into categories (darkest blue squares) and subcategories (lighter blue), and my own opinions (pink). Evidently, I was taking a critical stance on AI for this project, and my thoughts remain relatively the same to this day.
Brain storming in Figjam. I did all my brainstorming in Figjam for this project
From here, I chose two different topics, and began to come up with several motifs and symbols I could use to represent them in a more conceptual and abstract way. I ended up liking the topic about AI studying human behaviour.
thumbnailing
To me, the idea of personifying AI into a mysterious, looming figure of some sort seemed like the easiest way to approach this topic. Also, furthermore, I think AI reflecting human aspects of a human appearance relates strongly to my topic: AI learning from human behaviour.
In the end, I ended up going with the cloud-like AI appearance; it was more abstract, I felt like I could have more fun playing with the stylization of the features more.
