AI Made Me Do It
Exploring AI/XR in Ordinaries of Everyday
Symposium @ ./studio3, Department of Experimental Architecture, University of Innsbruck
#AIinArchitecture #Symposium #Maps&Territories
The symposium will delve into the integration of artificial intelligence in everyday life, emphasizing its architectural and spatial implications. With a focus on the evolution of images and image-making, we will investigate topics spanning domestic environments to urban landscapes, addressing hidden labor, data ethics, and the environmental footprint of AI systems. The event will also explore how language acts as a quasi-designer in shaping digital interpretation, as well as the shifting role of images—moving from representational to operational and, ultimately, to invisible. Today, AI technologies have seamlessly embedded themselves into our lives, transforming everything from personal routines to our built environment. From voice-based assistants to generative models, these systems have not only mediated but actively shaped our physical and virtual interactions. This new reality complicates traditional boundaries between human and machine activities—tasks like writing, navigating, and even caregiving are no longer solely human endeavors. AI has redefined our understanding of vision, perception, and space, presenting new ambiguities and reshaping familiar modes of interaction. This rapid evolution has prompted significant regulatory and ethical discussions. The European Union’s recent enactment of the Artificial Intelligence Act (February 2024) reflects growing concerns over AI’s impact on society. Simultaneously, major tech companies like Nvidia, Google, and OpenAI continue to accelerate research, launching new models and expanding AI’s capabilities at an unprecedented pace. During the symposium AI Made Me Do It we aim to uncover the layers of AI’s pervasive influence on our daily experiences. We will critically examine the datasets powering these technologies, scrutinizing their origins, the often-unseen human labor involved, and the natural resources required. Discussions will consider practical questions such as the amount of data needed for a robotic vacuum to efficiently navigate a home or the controversies behind training autonomous vehicles to understand complex urban scenarios. By situating these AI systems within broader sociocultural and environmental contexts, we aim to reveal the hidden stories behind their development and deployment. Our goal is to foster a deeper understanding of how AI, through its reliance on human habitats and everyday objects, transforms our interactions and reframes our relationship with the world.
The symposium will feature an introduction by Kathrin Aste,
keynotes from
Anna Pompermaier and Cenk Güzelis // Be My Guest!
./studio3, Department of Experimental Architecture, University of Innsbruck
Simone C. Niquille // Model Homes
Studio technoflesh, parametric truth Lab @Design Academy Eindhoven
Rosa Menkman // The Crisis of the Image
Beyondresolution, im/possible lab @HEAD Geneva
Nicolas Gourault // Forever Blowing Bubbles Filmmaker, Artist, Former Forensic Architecture Researcher
Nic Clear // Animating Affect: Point Clouds and the Hauntological Turn in Architecture
Dean of School of Arts and Humanities, Professor of Architecture at the University of Huddersfield
Valdemar Danry // Artificial Intelligence as Cognitive Organs
MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Group
and contributions from Pauline Heil, Nina Ziegler, Jacques Biever, Luca Lazzari and Mehmet Cakir.
The symposium is the concluding event of our research project “in collaboration with AI – a design-oriented research on the future of living with artificial intelligence” – developed with the support of the Digital Innovation in Research and Teaching program funded by Förderkreis 1669.
The symposium and exhibition are supported by the European Media Art Platform, co-funded by the European Union, M-Cult, Werkleitz, NeMe, Ars Electronica, the MIT Media Lab, and the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Innsbruck, to whom we extend our sincere thanks.
++++exhibition
Homeschool by Simone C. Niquille / technoflesh studio
Sorting Song by Simone C. Niquille / technoflesh studio
Beauty and the Beep by Simone C. Niquille / technoflesh studio
The Shredded Hologram Rose by Rosa Menkman
Automated decision-making process by Mehmet Cakir
Toy World by Luca Lazzari and Jacques Biever
/x/sleven_leleven/x/-Mart by Pauline Heil and Nina Ziegler
Wizard of AI by Alan Warburton
Unknown Labels by Nicolas Gourault (This work was realized within the framework of a European Media Art Platform residency at werkleitz, co-funded by the European Union. This presentation was co-funded by M-Cult.)
Refractions by Rosa Menkma (This work was realized within the framework of a European Media Art Platform residency at NeMe, co-funded by the European Union. This presentation was co-funded by Ars Electronica.)
photo ⓒ Christoph Schwarz
