In this talk, Frank Chimero eloquently reframes his relationship with and usage of generative AI as a designer. He tries to get away from talking about it as an object of devotion, something to avoid, or simply a mere tool. Instead, he offers a more expansive line of thinking.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about my use of AI as a kind of spatial relationship. Where do I stand in relation to the machine—above it, beside it, under it? Each position carries a different kind of power dynamic. To be above is to steer, beside is to collaborate, below is to serve.

He expands on these ideas with examples of how different artists work with tech and how those relationships manifest vastly different results: Rick Rubin, in his performative guru mode, is under the machine; Brian Eno, ever the systems thinker, is beside it; and Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, whose work I would like to explore more, dive right into it.

Chimero also pays respect to Hayao Miyazaki and muses on how Spirited Away could be viewed as an allegory for the bottomless hunger that LLMs have (while acknowledging Spirited Away predates the rise LLMs by decades).