SEOUL.- Artificial intelligence (AI) converts human language, images, and creative works into data and processes that data. It is no longer a mere technological tool and is now deeply involved in how we apprehend and experience the world. Amid this change, “handmade” as direct making by human hands seems at first glance to conflict with artificial intelligence. Yet it is still up to humans to choose and use technology and to give meaning to its results. What, then, does it mean to “make by hand” in the age of digital technology? Beyond using AI as a tool for creation, can we grant AI decision-making authority or autonomy in creation? Furthermore, can we recognize AI as an entity with rights and responsibilities? These questions go beyond the issue of who the subject of creation is and lead to new thinking about the relationship between humans and nonhumans, and about what it means to be human.

Building on these questions, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) symposium “Handmade AI” examines the modes of creation and the systems of human cognition that AI is changing.

Delivering the keynote address, N. Katherine Hayles (Theorist of Digital Culture and Posthumanism) explores how the cognitive processes of humans and AI interact, focusing on AI as an artistic collaborator and on large language models (LLMs). She considers the possibility of regarding AI as a co-creator of artistic productions and the philosophical implications of doing so, and raises new questions that contemporary museums face. Haerin Shin (Associate Professor, College of Media & Communication, Korea University) draws on the phenomena brought about by AI and diverse examples of its cultural application to ask “Whose hands really produce these results?” She uses this question to discuss the role of humans who use technology, and the agency and creative subjectivity attributed to technology itself. Ryan Ho (Independent Curator and Innovation Design Specialist) has been carrying out a project exploring the possibilities of AI and humanity at the GovTech Innovation Office in Singapore. Drawing on examples from National Gallery Singapore, he introduces how public cultural institutions use AI and the new relationship between technology and art.

Next, Trevor Paglen (Artist) turns to “Images After AI,” drawing on his book How to See Like a Machine: Images After AI. He examines human and machine vision, the production and interpretation of images, and the ways of apprehending the world that AI is changing. Finally, Heecheon Kim (Artist) likens what lies behind creating artworks with AI to a “fake task.” Through his own practice, he shares the fissures and unexpected possibilities that arise as AI intervenes in a creative process that begins with intuition and sensation. In doing so, he looks into the newly established creative subjectivity and meaning of artistic experience in a creative process shaped by the artist’s intentions and AI’s unpredictable results. Following the presentations, Leeji Hong (Curator, MMCA), who curated the symposium, invites all speakers and the audience to join an open discussion.

The emergence of new technologies has always changed the ways we understand and experience the world, and in the process has led us to question anew human existence and the meaning of art. AI goes beyond mere technological progress. It likewise poses new questions about human senses and cognition and about creative subjectivity and responsibility, and even about the relationship between humans and nonhumans. Amid these changes, “Handmade AI” examines the hands and judgment of humans who handle technology, and the meaning of the new experiences that take shape together with technology.