The BS-Industrial Complex of Phony A.I.
At the Biennale in Venice (one of the most important art shows there is) I saw a work which looked like this:<p>There was a metal frame holding two glas plates with ventian sediment inbetween (sand, soil, mud). In the center there was another metal frame which formed a hole. There also were to PCB boards with ATMEGA micro controllers.<p>In the text the artist claimed she controlled the biome of the soil with an AI using various sensors and pumps.<p>This was clearly a fake, as you could see nothing like that on the PCB.<p>Accidentally (?) she managed to create the best representation of AI I have seen in art: all that counts is that you <i>call</i> it AI even if it is a simple algorithm. AI is the phrase behind which magic hides and people <i>love</i> magic. Everything that has the aura of “humans don’t fully understand how it works in detail” <i>will</i> be used by charlartans, snake oil salesmen and conmen.<p>If even artists slap “AI” onto their works to sell it, you know we are past the peak now.