Behold another BCM Digital Artefact pitch! For BCM325 we are exploring future cultures and are required to make a DA that explores our future in the next 5/10/15 years etc.
I am keen to explore how our popular culture has portrayed Artificial Intelligence. Majority of our perceptions of AI has already been shaped by pop culture, because in the current day, complete AI is something that doesn’t exist. But majority of the time, pop culture limits the stereotype of AI in a negative perception. Turning on the creator (being humans) and more often than not – wanting to have rule over humans.
As explored in the video, I will hope to publish 3 short research pieces with the history of AI in popular culture with examples, and explore other research done on the topic. I will then translate this research into relevant and short videos to be published on my YouTube channel, this appealing to individuals that find the visual examples and work more entertaining and engaging.
I’ll see you soon with my first research piece!
Alex 🙂
AMC Blogs 
Reblogged this on Future Cultures.
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Hi Alex! I am glad that you chose Artificial Intelligence as the topic of your digital artefact since it’s already become a popular topic for a long time. With the development of technology, AI is becoming more and more advanced for the recent decade. However, a lot of people are terrified about artificial intelligence, fearing that robots will one day become so smart that they’ll murder all of us.There were also some movies which were talking about the rebel of AI such as “I ,Robot“ and “Matrix”.
I think you can find some journal artical which is about history of AI in popular culture, you can also make some prediction about what would AI become in the future.
Suggest reading
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/12/10/artificial-intelligence-and-the-future-of-humans/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/02/27/12-things-pop-culture-gets-wrong-about-artificial-intelligence/?sh=58f6b06c736f
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Danm. I think this is deadset the best pitch I’ve ever watched. Alex, your blog was extremely engaging and entertaining, through the short movie scenes I can tell how much time, work and thought have been put into this pitch video. The topic of AI is extremely relevant to this subject and both your idea and the DA is headed in the right direction. I like that you used to lecture and tutorial content in your pitch video proving your engagement with the subject content. The idea of AI has definitely been a massive thing in today’s pop culture and I am keen to see where you go with this topic. I agree that more Ai portrayed in pop culture is portrayed as evil where they turn against humanity but I like the challenge to think against pop- culture influence and be reminded of good AI characters such as R2D2. I think a natural human nature is paranoia which is why we often think AI will turn against us and we always seem to see the negatives more than the positives. You made it clear and easy to understand what you will be doing for your DA and I’m confident in your skills in making these videos as your pitch itself was already outstandingly entertaining, engaging and interesting. I find it hard to chime in more ideas or give you critical feedback on your DA as its seems to be pretty flawless at this point in my eyes. The only thing I could suggest is other than only using redit maybe even use TIktok to promote your youtube channel and post small snippets of your youtube videos onto your tiktok so that you can get more audiences. I am someone who never uses redit but if i scrolled across a video like yours on TikTok i feel that I would be invested and would want to find out more and go into your Youtube. Tiktok audiences tend to like informative videos and i feels that TikTok algorithm could help you with your DA. Here is a link to why i think TIktok could be beneficial to your DA as well as some helpful links to your topic;
https://brandastic.com/blog/what-is-tiktok-and-why-is-it-so-popular/#:~:text=The%20most%20popular%20use%20of,were%20lip%2Dsyncing%20and%20dancing.&text=With%20this%20unified%20brand%20and,Instagram%2C%20WhatsApp%2C%20and%20YouTube.
https://later.com/blog/tiktok-algorithm/
https://www.thinkautomation.com/bots-and-ai/ai-in-pop-culture/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/02/24/pop-culture-ai-and-ethics/?sh=1602d4f417cd
I’m genuinely interested in your topic and i have given you a follow on twitter! Keep us updated on your DA on Twitter 🙂
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Awesome pitch Alex! The AI voiceover was a really nice touch haha. You’ve clearly hit the mark for the DA focus by addressing that the way AI has been represented in the past will shape its future.
Exploring the presentation of AI in popular culture relates very closely to our weekly screenings of science fiction films which have been pivotal in shaping public opinions about AI. According to this 2013 article about ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/2001-a-space-odysseys-hal-9000-was-originally-a-female-7623079/, HAL’s voice was initially going to be female and called Athena. If that was the case, the article suggests that the Siri voice we know today might have been a male voice because we would be creeped out by female speaking technology from the way AI is portrayed in the film. I’m sure you’ve also seen videos like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfCr5NlyCMU of creepy Amazon Alexa moments that heighten our distrust of AI technology.
It would’ve been valuable to see you more directly address lecture content. Our Week 4: Multiple Futures discussion is particularly relevant to you as we learnt about possible futures through Alfred North Whitehead, whose work states that just because an idea seems impossible at the time is not a reason to reject it but we should also recognise the limitations of human and technological capacities. Your project should address the possibilities of AI but also explore what the limitations are of AI in the future!
When specifically will you be posting the videos throughout the semester? A detailed production timeline will enable better time management and can be used to demonstrate iterations in your beta presentation. I used a Gantt chart to outline the timeline for my project in my pitch for ‘The Future of Women in Leadership’ (https://josephinedoylemedia.wordpress.com/2021/03/19/investigating-the-future-of-women-in-leadership/) which I can then refer back to in my beta to evaluate what worked and what didn’t.
In ‘Reconceptualising Futures: a Need and a Hope’, (http://master-foresight-innovation.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/EMasiniReconceptualizingFutures.pdf), Eleonora Masini discussed how the visions of a desirable future are embedded in the social structures from which they emerge which would be beneficial to refer to in making suggestions about AI in the future. In regards to our fearful attitudes to AI which have been shaped by pop culture, this Washington Post article https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/07/07/the-very-best-ideas-for-preventing-artificial-intelligence-from-wrecking-the-planet/ suggests policies we should implement now to prevent AI from taking over in the future which I think would be valuable for your research.
I really enjoyed your pitch and I am looking forward to following the trajectory of your project. Well done Alex! 🙂
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Hi Alex, Good choice! This topic is particularly important to everyone and really linked to this subject – future, culture and technology. As I know that, you will be going to investigate several points to talk about the pop culture in AI. I would like to know what kind of movie, Tv, video game and book you will be going to talk about? I would suggest some examples for you, movie: “I, Robot (2004)”, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)” or if you want something cute I will suggest you some Disney movie with AI’s elements: “Big Hero”, “WALL-E”, those movies are all about the impact of artificial intelligence on human life and the world.
You had mentioned that you will publish 3 short research pieces with the history of AI in popular culture and 3 videos that will be posted on youtube, I would suggest you dive deeper to talk about such as, the technological innovation capabilities of artificial intelligence in cultural and creative industries with the aspects ( movie, Tv, video game and book) you have mentioned in the pitch.
I noticed you didn’t mention your target audiences. I would like to suggest you think in terms of the group and sectors who will be impacted. For examples: cultural and creative Industry etc. Besides, you can also think about these questions:
“How AI shapes pop culture and the entertainment industry ?”
“How does pop culture shape the public’s perception of artificial intelligence?”
“What is the differences between the image of AI in the movie or fiction and the development of AI in our real world?”
I think this is a good topic that you can dig deeper into. I am excited to see your posts and videos!
– Jessie
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