About my Research
When I first started researching the topic of AI initially for my Masters back in 2020, people responded with curiosity, saying, "Oh, that's an interesting niche topic!", or "That's so cool, like Terminator!" My interest in AI was first piqued at around age 13 when reading Douglas’ Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and one of my first question for early chatbots was from the book; What is the meaning of life?
But today, as AI has quickly infiltrated into every aspect of our lives, the reaction is less enthusiastic and sometimes people ask with concern "Should we be afraid for what is coming?" We all the know the plot-line to Terminator and know it didn’t work out well for humans.
I am definitely not an evangelist for AI. There are some big problems now that weren’t really an issue when I started; power consumption, AI slop, virtual girlfriends, deepfake scams and the current broligarchy that is in control of AI development is worrying.
Recent work by Chinese firm Deepseek showed that these systems can be run on only a fraction of the cost of the American ones. AI and others are planning to use nuclear power eventually too. The truth is, AI alone won’t take your job, but someone using AI might. AI is not inherently bad on its own but in the wrong hands it could cause chaos.
Since the start of my Master’s in 2020, I’ve focused on experimenting with AI’s new creative possibilities. I’ve explored whether AI is merely a tool or something more by trying to collaborate with it in different ways; writing songs with chatbots, generating lyrics and vocals with AI-powered applications, cloning vocals and experimenting with text-to-image and audio tools. My goal has been to understand the full spectrum of AI’s creative possibilities. Since immersing myself in everything AI during my Master’s in 2020, I’ve now progressed to a PhD at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, where I continue to explore AI’s impact on artists, art, and society in general.
I enjoy the creative process and don’t want AI to do everything for me. Instead, I see AI as a tool, one that can enhance my work, generate ideas and take care of repetitive and tedious tasks rather than replace my creative work.
I have always been fascinated with new technology and the new possibilities that come along with that, Through my research, I’ve been developing my own artistic style using these tools. My work primarily revolves around AI-enhanced photography and videography, and through continuous experimentation, my creative process has evolved significantly over the last few years.
Like all new technology, AI comes with its pitfalls. It poses risks; criminals have new ways to scam people by cloning voices and faces. Artists have valid concerns over copyright, particularly about AI models trained on their work without permission. Many of these tools can generate images in any style, raising ethical and legal questions. Recently US law declared that images that are AI generated via text to image apps cannot be copyrighted unless there is substantial work done by the artist.
One of the most exciting aspects for me is training custom AI models. For example, I’ve used some of my best time-lapse photography to train a custom generator. I also like to train datasets with my own photographs or drawings and generate from that. I’ve also been experimenting with new forms of style transfer, applying characteristics from one or multiple images to another. This has opened up countless new creative possibilities in photography and videography.
I’m excited about the future but a bit worried about the potential for disaster. There needs more to be done to mitigate future problems and make sure AI is aligned with humans’ goals and morals. AI tools are evolving rapidly, and who knows what will happen in the next few years!
