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: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.In the text the artist claimed she controlled the biome of the soil with an AI using various sensors and pumps.This was clearly a fake, as you could see nothing like that on the PCB.Accidentally (?) she managed to create the best representation of AI I have seen in art: all that counts is that you call it AI even if it is a simple algorithm. AI is the phrase behind which magic hides and people love magic. Everything that has the aura of “humans don’t fully understand how it works in detail” will be used by charlartans, snake oil salesmen and conmen.If even artists slap “AI” onto their works to sell it, you know we are past the peak now.