Actors in Copernicus Exursion to the Ars Electronica’s Future Thinking School
General, External sources ·Report on the Digital Mindset Workshop
As part of our course Actors in Copernicus, we were taken on an excursion to the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. I was not quite sure what to expect, all I knew was that we would be spending the day talking about AI. Prior to the trip I had some basic knowledge of AI, I had taken a course on machine learning, I knew what a neural network was, and I had even worked with CNNs before. But our excursion was about something bigger than just AI, something I had not given a lot of thought to before: the digital mindset.
Upon arriving to the Center, we participated in a half-day workshop on the Digital Mindset. Firstly, we were taught about the basics of AI and then given a tour of the Center. The center itself is an amazing piece of architecture and holds within it many fascinating treasures. The Ars Electronic Center focuses on studying the interaction and overlap of AI, art, and society, and every exhibit we saw showcased the amazing cultural and artistic advances that have been and could be make with the help of AI. The Center was unlike anything I have experienced before with how innovative some of the displays were. I enjoyed making and viewing art using AI and exploring how neural networks work behind the scenes at various stations in the exhibits.
The lecture and exhibits made me think for the first time about how AI could be used not just for scientific applications but for artistic and cultural ones as well. While I was blown away by some of the projects being developed and displayed at the center, my favorite part of the workshop was actually the group discussion on the Digital Mindset and using AI to benefit humans. During the workshop we were asked to think of and discuss novel applications for AI in the future as well as obstacles to implementing AI currently. These questions generated some very interesting discussion on the ethics of using AI which I found fascinating. Overall, I went in with few expectations for the day, and left with a million new thoughts and a great deal of excitement and curiosity for the future.
Our day did not end at the workshop however. After, leaving the center we drove to Gasthaus zur Gis for some food. How could we not, given the name of the restaurant. The food was delicious and so we ended the day with both our stomachs and minds full.