Ninth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

It is enticing to think of human vision as a kind of biological video camera, projecting light signals via the retina into images to be interpreted by the brain. It is quite clear however that what we see is not just a function of the world we live in, but to a significant degree influenced by how we interact, what we choose to focus upon and what we choose to ignore. In light of the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the capture and processing of large amounts of images as data, this paper will critically explore film theorist Andre Bazin’s ontological conception of the objective nature of the automated image and the mediums capacity to derive an advantage from man’s absence. This paper will examine the potential impact on the screen arts, of teaching computers “to see” and concludes that AI could only ever reshape and replicate art and what is quintessentially human.