SSP Distinguished Speaker Lecture: Ken Liu on The Artistic Machine

The
Symbolic Systems Program
presents

The Annual Symbolic Systems Distinguished Speaker Lecture for 2024

The Artistic Machine: What Can the Camera in the 19th Century Tell Us About the Future of AI and Creativity?

Ken Liu
Writer

Thursday, April 11, 2024
5-6:30 pm

Hybrid event (open to the public):

• In person: Gunn Rotunda, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
• Remote: Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99713091022?pwd=b0hna3VRUkFWWHl0TUEwcTRQYktwQT09; Password: 352122

ABSTRACT:

Using a study of the impact of the camera on 19th-century art, SF author Ken Liu devises a framework for productively speculating on the future of AI in art. As an artist who cares deeply about the human element in art as well as the the possibilities opened up by new tools, Ken highlights some concrete ways that AI may change how we think about and create art while pointing out deeply ingrained problems that must be solved before the full potential of the “artistic machine” can be unlocked.

BIO:

Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards for his fiction, he has also won top genre honors abroad in Japan, Spain, and France.

Liu’s most characteristic work is the four-volume epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers, not wizards, are the heroes of a silkpunk world on the verge of modernity. His debut collection of short fiction, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. A second collection, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, followed. He also penned the Star Wars novel, The Legends of Luke Skywalker.

He’s often involved in media adaptations of his work. Recent projects include “The Message,” under development by 21 Laps and FilmNation Entertainment; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in season one of Netflix’s breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, with Craig Silverstein as executive producer, adapted from an interconnected series of Liu’s short stories.

Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, history of technology, bookmaking, and the mathematics of origami.

In addition to his original fiction, Liu also occasionally publishes literary translations. His most recent work of translation is a new rendition of Laozi’s Dao De Jing.

Liu lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.

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