This essay has now been published in Critical AI at this link https://doi.org/10.1215/2834703X-11700228; the abstract is pasted in below. If your institution lacks access to Critical AI please encourage them to subscribe. If you are an independent scholar please write to criticalai@sas.rutgers.edu.
ABSTRACT:
Artists have been using and misusing tools for decades. But the development and commercialization of diffusion-based image generation tools have challenged definitions of reappropriation, complicating the work of artists who use technology to provoke ideological critiques of technological power. In this article, three artists, operating as the Algorithmic Resistance Research Group (ARRG!), present a framework for the creative misuse of generative AI systems. By situating the lineage of technology-based art as “hacking” (and making as a form of inquiry), this article argues that misusing systems as a form of exploration within art making is a useful tool for critical AI discourse. Focusing on an exhibition of work presented at the hacker conference DEFCON 31 in 2023, the article examines creative misuse aligned with specific critiques. By using generative AI tools while rejecting their premises, artists can redefine creativity as a human endeavor, creating work that engages and shapes debate.