This year the UC Santa Cruz Arts Division is introducing a state-of-the-art AI multimedia lab that will give students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience using the very latest in advanced technology. The Arts, AI, Augmentation and Acceleration Lab, also known as the A4 Lab, is a first-of-its-kind partnership with a global technology company, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and the Arts at UC Santa Cruz. AMD’s in-kind donation of six high-performance computers, equipped with the latest AMD graphics processing units for demanding editing, 3D modeling, and animation, means that the Arts Division can innovate and excel with inclusion and equity as it explores new technologies through the arts.
AMD is an internationally renowned Silicon Valley company focused on high-adaptive performance computing. The A4 Lab will be open to students across the Arts Division, including in the division’s newest major, Creative Technologies.
The switch to AI also raises concerns about the intersection of creativity and technology. To address these issues, the UC Santa Cruz Arts Division recently hosted the A4 summit meeting, where they invited students and faculty from across departments 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 advocacy council.
Arts Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu opened the discussion by 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 film industry, Carter being an Academy Award-winning production designer who has worked on films including Avatar, Jurassic Park, and Forrest Gump, and Nolting as 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,” said 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,” said Nolting. “AI is extremely curatorial. This is a simplified version of what’s the difference between being curatorial and creative.”
Both alumni raised apprehensions 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 oversight about what’s appropriate and you have to go through these middle people,” said Carter, believing that AI will make movie making more accessible. However, Nolting was 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.
“With the help of Foundation Relations and Industry and Corporate Relations at UC Santa Cruz, we are working to garner support for our ‘only in Santa Cruz’ approach, which includes a prioritization of innovation and excellence, a concern for inequity and inequality, and a commitment to a communal and interrogative use of AI,” said Parreñas Shimizu. “The Arts Division believes in its centrality within STEAM–rather than STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as a more inclusive approach that brings everyone to the table to solve our world’s most pressing problems and reflects how AI itself involves all modes of inquiry.”
The dynamic AI discussion also emphasized the Art Division’s spirit of experimentation and play, along with its commitment to equity, access, and the communal spirit of discovery and collaboration. “AI provides an opportunity to chart new terrain. Our vision for A4 includes spirited collaboration with faculty, staff and students, a speaker series, and opportunities for collaboration across fields including engineering, sciences, history, sociology, law, politics, literature, and all our genres and methods in the Arts,” added Parreñas Shimizu.
