Artificial Intelligence and The Border: Mexico-United States Generative Image and Symbolic Imaginaries Inteligência artificial e fronteira: imagens generativas e imaginários simbólicos México- Estados Unidos Inteligencia artificial y frontera: imagen generativa e imaginarios simbólicos México-Estados Unidos Academic Article in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • This research explores and discusses the visual symbolic imaginaries generated by four artificial intelligence (AI) programs regarding the Mexico-United States border. The visual production hinges upon six key concepts that emerge from the general theme: ¿Most relevant symbolic imaginaries of the wall, violence, woman, childhood, inequality, and migration related to the Mexico-United States border.¿ The AI programs used to produce the images are Midjourney, Leonardo.ai, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E 2. An experimental methodology defines the key concepts and symbolic imaginaries at the border between the United States and Mexico through ChatGPT 3.5. The images have been obtained by translating the written concepts into images using such programs. The generative image programs are conceptualized based on the aesthetic apparatus theory and the posthuman vision. The images are analyzed using the theory of social, cultural, and symbolic imaginaries. The analysis reveals ideological biases and aesthetic tendencies in the visually synthesized symbolic imaginaries and rhetorical regimes of the Mexico-United States border through generative image production programs. It also builds a critical-sociopolitical perspective on three main aspects: a conceptualization of generative image programs as techno-aesthetic apparatuses, a reflection on the creative construction processes of visual discourses produced by AI devices, and an examination of the ideological and aesthetic biases of the images understood as techno-aesthetic objects obtained from this visual production technology. © 2024 Universidad de La Sabana. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • January 1, 2024