How was the experience for participants remembering a fond memory?
All the participants of my intervention respond with a sense of nostalgia. The process of remembering a “fond” memory seemed challenging for them. The responses show that it was a challenging task that took time for them to complete. This shows that perhaps the real challenge for visual artists curating their personal identities is digging deep and finding pivotal points that shaped their lives and practice. This is a new aspect I had not considered completely. I hope to find a way to prompt a better way of finding what defines each individual and if there can be a process that can help better develop this “recall”.
How did participants feel seeing their individual memories as images?
The participants seemed divided on the enhancing effects I had expected this process to have. Which each of them rightly pointed out that the image was not a perfect replica of their memories, there was some understanding that when working with generative AI, it is more about providing physical descriptions rather than the mood a memory may evoke. While this was something I had explained to the participants, it is a learning that emotions cannot be infused in an AI image.
The image wall had me using LoRas that matched the participants as I tried to enhance their original memories as prompts. The wall included two images – an initial image and a final image. While two participant responses show their disappointment with the final images, i.e. not close enough or below expectations, there were others that stated that aspects of their memories became more vivid in their mind as they saw the generated image. There is evidence from these interactions that some people can build up an old memory using iterated images over time. In some sense, this also lets me think that there may be a possibility to bring forth the past and look at it again.
How did participants feel about their memories being one amongst many?
From the feedback, it appears that seeing other people’s memories along side their own, the participants were drawn into a community mindset. One participant attests to going back and reading other people’s notes. Despite a variety of emotions reported- overwhelming, joy, nostalgia, connection, surprise, etc. the common theme is can gather is that doing such an exercise with more people has a positive impact on the participants. This may be because they are on in the centre of the stage, but sharing it with others. Connection between all these different age groups and media users is also an unexpected outcome. Participants aged 39 and 24 feeling connected over a wall of AI generated images is a unique outcome and demonstrates a unique ability of this technology to bring together different generations.
Did AI images change the way any of the participants remembered their life?
All participants reported no change in the way they remembered their individual memories. These are clearly important parts of their lives and so are remembered strongly. I would like to be able to do justice and help a few of the participants develop more on the possibility of truly bringing the image closer to what is being seen in the eye of their minds.
Did any participants change the way they view AI application?
Participants did not find the outcome convincing enough to instigate a change in their already held views on generative AI. This is due to many factors, some of which include the participants already being supportive of generative AI technology, and other participants viewing it as a tool. For those who had negative associations of generative AI, the outcome may have reinforced their views.
Reflections from participants and possible changes moving forward.
The feedback strongly indicates that the participants were engaged with the idea of generative AI recreating memory. The feedback evidenced there to exist genuine curiosity and thinking on the part of different participants on the defining of themselves and the future role of this technology. I was certain that this would be far from a perfect intervention when working with such a difficult topic. I was however, hoping to gauge the interest and curiosity artists would feel when interacting with my intervention. In this case, while much was lacking in terms of presenting the “perfect” replica of the participant’s memories or identity, there was success in garnering genuine curiosity and expectation from a technology that until a few months ago, I thought was the enemy of visual artists.
Moving forward, I would like to expand this into a process rather than a simple installation. The back and forth on feedback and recollection, I find, is an important part of curating one’s personal identity. The task is not as simple as putting in text prompts into a magic machine, but is learning how to utilise a new tool for reflecting the personal. Understanding, what is the personal and how memories, artefacts and other aspects play into shaping it. Through the last few months, I have unlearnt many biases, uncovered many questions and reflected on many possibilities for my project. I feel the answers lie beyond the horizon, and may never be truly absolute, but a framework is beginning to appear close.