Reading Blog 2

For this blog, I’d like to respond to the Immersive Media Exhibition for CMDI that happened on April 17th. I want to respond to one specific project within it that I find interesting- a facial scanner that drew from a folder of racist imagery and matched up your face to particular images. It was actually quite jarring to experience and since it was realtime, the image kept shifting and changing with the use of AI. I think it was incredibly thought provoking though given the concept of manipulated reflections.

It also brought up a really interesting question: is AI inherently sexist? I think it might be. Every time I stepped in front of the scanner, it seemed to focus on certain features, namely my breasts. I would step in front and it would reveal a picture of someone with their nipples out, which was odd because my friend with slightly less tight clothing did not get revealed in such a way. Which gave me an idea for a project that would unclothe people in real time. It could be about the male gaze. The AI identifies them as male or female and matches them with a picture of a nude model from a database I use for drawing references. I feel like being actively stripped down like that would provoke a visceral response. But I am unsure how ethical that would be even if they don’t have the same face. In any case, it could be an interesting honors thesis.