Examining new horizons, possibilities, and fears about Artificial Intelligence at the CCCB

Artificial intelligence is everywhere nowadays. The explosion in ability and in popularity of tools like ChatGPT and image creation applications has pulled AI right to the forefront of our modern culture.

A new exhibition at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), made in conjunction with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, examines a series of ideas related to this new technology: how it interprets and interacts with the world, what responsibilities we have as a society regarding its use, and who defines its boundaries.

Curated by Lluís Nacenta, the exhibit aims to "make people more aware, more familiar, less afraid of artificial intelligence," according to the curator himself. 

"This technology has come to stay, and it has a huge impact on very different aspects of our everyday life," Nacenta says.

Divided into four sections, visitors will see how AI learns about the world, the history of the concept in practical use and in popular culture, and how it can transform our world and ourselves. 

In the first section of the exhibit, 'Data Worlds,' visitors can explore how machines interpret and interact with huge databases to learn new things.

Museum-goers will have the chance to play with a reflection of their potential synthetic selves, see how algorithms use sight to come up with new artistic creations and test themselves on whether they can identify if a human or machine created a piece of writing. 

Throughout the exhibition, the goal is to show "the possibilities of the technology, how science is using it," as well as the "dangers of the technology, and the creative uses, the creative opportunities," Nacenta tells Catalan News.

In the following sections of the ehibit, 'Machines That Think' and 'The Dream of AI,' artistic installations will show the history of the technology, in practicality and in popular culture. 

"Science fiction is somehow contemporary theory," the curator says, laughing. "It’s a very powerful and popular way of developing new theories about the world today."

AI is a new technology, but the dream of AI, our ambitions, desires and fears about it are not new. The moral and ethical questions surrounding its use could dominate future public conversations for years to come. 

"We know the danger, we know the challenges, and we know what limits we should put on the technology so the use is fair, it’s not dangerous and it’s beneficial for everyone," Nacenta says. "With artificial technology, it’s the same thing, for sure this technology needs to be regulated."  

But what’s also important for the exhibition curator is that people understand the wide-ranging positive impact that AI can have on scientific research. The final section of the exhibition is titled 'Endless Transformation,' and it ponders what may lie ahead.  

"In healthcare, scientists are telling us now we can do personalised medicine," Nacenta explains. "That’s a very important breakthrough of science."

'Artificial Intelligence' opens in Barcelona's CCCB on Wednesday, October 18, and will be open to visit until March 17, 2024.