Peek & Play Magic Maker is a collaborative project by Faith Holland, Ben Bogart, and Hildegard Holland Watter that demonstrates what the care of a parent, or mothering, can do to transform what it means to “train” AI models.
Using art and mark-making as a yardstick of development, AI models are trained on hundreds of four-year-old Hildy’s scanned and categorised artworks. This work is done through a process that adds our own labour, marked by motherly slowness and careful guidance. Our process stands in stark contrast to the scraping methodologies employed by large language models, which have no regard for the consequences of indiscriminate exposure to and assimilation of racist, sexist, ableist and otherwise biased materials. We create a space for play and beauty for both users who use the ‘toy’ as well as for the AI models themselves, who are otherwise used as workhorses. We hypothesize that this alternative approach to teaching AIs will manifest in a comparative lack of prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance in the AI’s outputs.
Technical support provided by Chris Collins, Cat Bluemke, and Jonathan Carroll
Illustrations by Tony Halmos
Curatorial guidance by Rea McNamara
Sounds by Hildegard Holland Watter and Faith Holland
With special thanks to Pratt STEAMplant and Microscope Gallery