The stupidity of AI and other things we have been reading
Hello! It’s nearly Spring for those of you in Northern Hemisphere. Hope you are seeing signs of thaw and blossoms blooming. We are having floods and endless power cuts where I live in South Africa but that’s a story for a different newsletter. I will just say that it is sometimes very surreal reading about cutting edge technology and shape-shifting robots (see below) when the lights don’t turn on and getting basic wifi is a struggle. I have been trying to prepare and send this newsletter for over a week now. Better hit SEND while I can.
We don’t have any new Immerse content to share with you this month (more on this soon) but please read on for the usual links: interesting reads - lots of AI again, sorry sorry, projects to check out, and events and submission deadlines. See you next month if the gods of electricity allow!
What we’re reading and watching
James Bridle on the stupidity of AI.
‘The danger isn’t that AI destroys us. It’s that it drives us insane’ - Jaron Lanier on AI.
Linguist Emily Bender on chatbots.
Hito Steyerl on why NFTs and A.I. image generators are really just ‘onboarding tools’ for tech conglomerates.
Immerse’s Jessica Clark on generative AI: why it’s suddenly on fire, and why that matters for health equity.
A.O. Scott on AI. in movies. Scott is now moving away from reviewing movies and has written his own (rather moving) exit interview. You can also listen to this piece on The Daily.
ChatGPT is a blurry JPEG of the web.
What happens when a metaverse disappears? Microsoft shut down its social VR world AltspaceVR, and Altspace users and creators used its final days to commemorate the platform.
Jax Deluca on a new field briefing on media arts.
Building interactive agents in video game worlds.
I saw lots of online chatter about this article about ethics in documentaries. Do we need a reality check?
Cory Doctorow on TikTok and how platforms die. Also high-five to Doctorow for this.
Ending on a yikes note: this shape-shifting robot can liquefy itself and reform.
Projects we’re eyeballing
Cycling, photography, and exploration converge in a pre-apocalyptic story. Dive into A Letter From The Future.
Feral File commissions curated exhibitions of digital artwork and partners with artists and institutions to explore new ways of exhibiting and collecting. Browse the collection.
Reach from Emblematic Group allows anyone to create immersive content. No coding or fancy equipment required!
Coming up
Festivals, courses, and events
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s TECHS-MECHS: A Survey of Mexican Technological Culture is on at Gray Area in San Francisco from March 16 - May 31.
David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away). This immersive journey through sixty years of Hockney’s art is open in London till June 4.
The Next Stage Immersive Summit, Los Angeles, June 2-4.
Submission deadlines
The IDFA DocLab Open Call for Festival Commissions 2023 deadline is TODAY, March 24. Get funding to support your work and show it at IDFA DocLab in November this year.
If you are based in Zimbabwe or South Africa check out the Design Futures Lab open call. Deadline March 26.
The new UAL Storytelling Fellowship looks interesting. The AKO Storytelling Institute is launching a 9 month fellowship programme to explore how storytelling can lead to social change. Deadline to apply May 15.
Venice Gap-Financing Market (this includes immersive projects) deadline is May 5.
80th Venice International Film Festival’s Venice Immersive deadline is May 29.
Immerse is an initiative of MIT Open DocLab and Dot Connector Studio, and receives funding from Just Films | Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. The Gotham Film & Media Institute is our fiscal sponsor. Learn more about Immerse here. We are committed to exploring and showcasing emerging nonfiction projects that push the boundaries of media and tackle issues of social justice — and rely on friends like you to sustain ourselves and grow. Join us by making a gift today
Publisher: Jessica Clark (Dot Connector Studio)
Managing Editor: Julie Fukunaga
Associate Editor: Omar El-Sabrout
Editorial Collective: Kat Cizek (MIT Open DocLab), Ingrid Kopp (Electric South), Sarah Wolozin (MIT Open DocLab)