New AI-driven Multimedia Lab Bridges Art and Technology

Content by Gaby Messino

This year University of California, Santa Cruz is introducing a state-of-the-art AI multimedia lab. The AI Art Augmentation and Acceleration Lab, also known as A4, is aimed at assisting (predominantly) gaming students in the department of Performance Play and Design (PPD) and includes $50,000 dollars worth of state-of-the-art equipment. A4 will be open to students across the Arts Division, including in the division's newest major, Creative Technologies.

The new lab gives students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art technology. The technology was donated by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a Silicon Valley company focused on high adaptive performance computing. This is the first time they are making a large donation for an entire department. 

The switch to AI raises concerns about the intersection of creativity and technology. To address these concerns, the UC Santa Cruz Arts Division hosted the A4 summit meeting, where they invited students and PPD faculty to participate in a discussion about the potential uses of artificial intelligence on campus. Students were joined by notable alumni guest speakers Kevin Nolting and Rick Carter, both of whom are on Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s arts council. 

Parreñas Shimizu opened the discussion saying, “Nobody knows what AI means for our fields and together we will figure it out for the Arts Division. What we do know is that this new knowledge and new technology is an opportunity to reimagine and rethink what we know.”

Nolting and Carter have both made names for themselves in the movie industry, Carter being an Academy Award winning production designer who has worked on films including Avatar, Jurassic Park, and Forrest Gump, whereas Nolting is an award winning editor who has worked on groundbreaking Pixar films including Finding Nemo and Up. The two shared opposing views on the potential of AI in the movie industry.

Nolting on one side argued that AI stifles creativity, whereas Carter believes it can make the arts more accessible. Key points included the emotional aspect of creativity, the role of AI in bypassing Hollywood gatekeeping, and the importance of authenticity in artistic expression. “It's about younger people discovering that they can balance creativity and technology as themselves,” says Carter.

Concerns were raised about AI's potential to sanitize creativity and the ethical implications of AI-generated content. “What we get in return with AI is so sanitized it's not interesting,” says Nolting. “AI is extremely curatorial. This is a simplified version of what's the difference between being curatorial and creative.”

Both alumni raised concerns about the finances of movie making, and the effects AI will have on it, again with opposing viewpoints. “It costs money to make movies, so there's all this gatekeeping about what's appropriate and you have to go through these middle people,” says Carter, believing that AI will make movie-making more accessible. However, Nolting is more concerned with the people in charge of funding big productions, and worried that there is a risk that large movie production companies will choose AI as a cheaper alternative to the creative process of individuals.