A ground-breaking project at the University of Nottingham, to create immersive art experiences through artificial intelligence (AI), is to receive £1.1m funding from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council's (AHRC) Bridging Responsible Artificial Intelligence Divides (BRAID) programme.
The project, led by Dr Lydia Farina in the university's Department of Philosophy, is one of three new demonstrators – receiving £3.5m in total funding – to explore how responsible AI tools can create more opportunities in the creative sector and build environmental resilience. The project team includes experts from Philosophy, Computer Science, Dance Performance, Creative Writing, English, Performance and New Media, Media Art & Archives, Archival Studies and Emerging Technologies.
The research frameworks will be supporting the development of responsible AI technologies of the future that the public can trust, businesses will adopt, and address current societal, economic and environmental challenges.
We are very excited to collaborate with experts from academia, artist groups, cultural and national institutions and our industry partners to further develop interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange on the responsible use of AI applications in creating, reactivating and archiving artworks"
The three-year Nottingham-led project – with co-investigators based at Nottingham (Helena Webb, Steve Benford, Bernd Stahl, Spencer Jordan), the University of Exeter (Gabriella Giannachi), Coventry University (Sarah Whatley, Kate Marsh), Goldsmiths (Marco Gillies), London South Bank University (Annet Dekker), the University of Dundee (Adam Lockhart) and the National Archives (John Moore) – aims to generate key new knowledge on responsible innovation and creativity when AI is used to create, document, reactivate and conserve complex artworks and their archives – helping museums and collections preserve artistic heritage for future generations.
Reactivating artworks in the context of this project will involve performing or exhibiting them again, drawing on their current documentation and also providing opportunities for further documentation. To enable this the team will collaborate with some exciting artist groups, specialists and media platforms such as Gaby Wijers, BLAST Theory, LI-MA (Netherlands) and Candoco, and will share expertise and findings with industry partners: Blueskeye AI, CityMAAs, ProMeMoria Group (Italy), LI-MA (Netherlands) and Professor Michael Shanks of Stanford University in the US.
The BRAID programme was launched by the AHRC in 2022, with a total of £15.9 million in planned funding through to 2028. In partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute and the BBC, BRAID's multidisciplinary team is led by Co-Directors Professor Ewa Luger and Professor Shannon Vallor at The University of Edinburgh, who said:
"There is an urgent demand for more responsible approaches to the use of AI in the creative sector, and to the governance of AI's rapidly accelerating environmental impacts. BRAID are thrilled to welcome these three groundbreaking projects that leverage the power of the arts and humanities alongside AI expertise to address these challenges head-on."
The other two projects within the funding framework are Performance, Participation, Provenance and Reward (P3R) in Responsible AI which will explore new technologies, new business models and new approaches to data provenance in pursuit of an equitable future in live music, led by Royal Holloway, University of London. And Sustainable AI Futures which will investigate how we can govern AI's environmental impacts responsibly and address the challenge by looking at different aspects of governance tools, led by Bath Spa University.
AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith, said: "We are excited to support research that explores the positive role of AI in the creative and environmental sectors at a time when the debate around the responsible use of AI is dominating so many discussions.
"These projects will support artists and creators in working with new technologies while protecting creators in sectors such as live music and contemporary art. AI is an exciting new leap in technology and AHRC is proud to fund research on how to use AI to build resilience and responsibility in the creative and environmental sectors."
