Paper short abstract:

This presentation, based on a digital ethnography on the reception of AI-generated images, discusses the deep uncertainty surrounding such cyborgian images, and suggests that the public’s strategy for coping with this haunting uncertainty is a (doomed) attempt to establish the pictures’ facts.

Paper long abstract:

What is the truth of an AI-generated image? How is such images’ factuality established? In analyzing the results of a Twitter-based ethnography inquiring about the public reception of images generated by artificial intelligence software such as CRAIYON and DALLE, this presentation argues that the deep uncertainty which haunts visual artefacts (Taylor 1996) extends to, and is especially pregnant in, the uncanny realm of cyborgian, AI-generated pictures. It further suggests that the public’s strategy for coping with this uncertainty is an attempt to establish the pictures’ facts; an attempt to institute semantic, scientific, and factual control over imagistic uncertainty. It is proposed that observable attempts to institute such control notably take the form of the ubiquitous identification, by ideators, of the semantic prompts used by the software to generate these images, as well as the widespread user practice of responding to the cyborgian images with newly-generated ones from the same prompts, thus putting their reproducibility, and hence scientific factuality, to the test. It is argued, however, that such attempts at fact-making are doomed, as the factuality of these images’ context – their grounding in a ‘real’, empirical world, i.e., that of their input data – is irretrievable to both the images’ human ideators and their public, and that their having an idiosyncratic ‘aura’ is truer than their being reproductible (Benjamin 1935). Finally, by pointing at the necessity to look for such images’ subjective and Barthesian ‘truth’ (1981) rather than for their factuality, this presentation argues for an epistemology of the affective.

Paper short abstract:

This research explores the processes of trust in the image, from the ethnographic experience and theoretical reflection, in photojournalism and documentary film, based on interviews and observation at festivals. The research focuses on corporalities, ethics, indexicality, and emotional anchoring.

Paper long abstract:

Trust is a topic of current debate in the anthropological field. It is related to “an emotion, belief or expectation that someone or something is good, trustworthy and honest and capable of meeting our expectations” (Canals 2020). The problem presented in this communication poses a present immersed in a crisis of trust in images and the world (Jones 1996; McMiller 2011). It occurs mainly in the field of images that portray the contemporary world and that they have lost their status as visual evidence (if they ever had it). In a moment of hyperrealism as well as truth concealment (de la Nuez 2021) and where the words of the famous writer Artaud, “Never real/ always true” is diluted in our perception of the world. These circumstances have led to multiple debates around the concepts of falsehood, post-truth, and disinformation (Canals 2020). Who makes an iconic image? Can we continue, in the era of fake, trusting images?

From this scenario, this communication has the will to show the new paradigm and processes of image creation and distribution by professionals in the sector. For this reason, the research proposes, from the ethnographic experience and theoretical reflection, to explore the processes of trust in the field of photojournalism and documentary film based on interviews with professionals in these professions, as well as festivals. The research focuses on corporalities, ethics, indexicality, and emotional anchoring. The results of this case study will be presented comparatively, both in written format and with audiovisual material.

Paper short abstract:

AI technologies producing images based on text have become a significant cultural phenomenon. This paper will discuss trust in these automated images among Hindu devotees. We will delve into the changing roles and politics surrounding the use of automated images in a religious context.

Paper long abstract:

The recent emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of creating images based solely on written prompts has garnered widespread attention and sparked a heated debate about the potential benefits and risks of this automated form of image-making. These AIs have gained widespread popularity due to their ease of use and ability to seamlessly incorporate visual elements in a way that is aesthetically and culturally situated. However, their reception has also sparked a controversial discussion about the potential risks and benefits of this form of automated image-making, which is worth exploring from the perspectives of multimodal anthropology and visual culture studies.

To this end, we propose approaching the emergence of AI image-making technology through the concept of "visual trust". By examining how people reproduce, distribute, and create relationships of trust and meaning with these images in specific cultural contexts, we can gain a deeper understanding of the role and significance of images in contemporary society.

To promote a debate about the future and ethics of automated images, this talk presents the findings of an experimental case study on the use and reception of AI-generated images among Hindu devotees. Using the photo-elicitation method as a platform for discussion with participants, we aim to shed new light on how the evolving landscape of generative AIs might raise philosophical and ethical questions about the role of technology in religious visual expression and practice.