OpenAI has partnered with New York’s Strada Gallery to offer artists access to its unreleased artificial intelligence (AI) tools for an exclusive exhibition titled Strada Nuova: New Road. The exhibit, running for three weeks, showcases a diverse group of artists, including researchers, academics, and creators who blend physical and digital artwork. Strada Gallery’s founder, Paul Hill, initiated the collaboration with OpenAI after months of planning.
For the exhibit, OpenAI provided artists with access to several cutting-edge tools, including its Sora video generator, Voice Engine, DALL-E 3 image generator, and the popular ChatGPT. These tools, combined with educational resources and artist stipends, allowed the featured creators to explore new artistic frontiers.
Minne Atairu, an interdisciplinary artist specializing in AI, used Sora to create an AI-generated video inspired by Nigerian supernatural horror films from the 1990s. Her piece, *Regina Gloriana*, highlights gaps in Black historical archives, a key focus of her work.
The exhibit’s timing aligns with ongoing debates about AI’s role in art, particularly regarding copyright infringement. OpenAI and other AI companies have faced legal challenges for using copyrighted material to train their models, raising questions about data consent and ethics. Despite these concerns, Hill defended the use of AI in art, noting, “All good artworks are controversial.”
Several artists in the exhibit expressed the importance of marginalized communities gaining early access to AI tools. Transdisciplinary artist Curry Hackett used AI to animate scenes from his public art project Ugly Beauties, aiming to reimagine Black relationships with nature. Photographer Sophia Wilson used OpenAI’s Voice Engine to narrate interviews for her project documenting Black women bodybuilders.
Both artists emphasized the need to embrace AI as a creative tool, with Hackett advocating for ethical use and Wilson warning against being “left behind in history.”
The Strada Nuova exhibit demonstrates the potential of AI to enhance artistic expression, while also contributing to broader discussions on its ethical implications.
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