Galleries are using AI to measure the quality of art SET ME AFLAME – The Next Web

AI has set its destructive sights on one of lifes greatest pleasures: visiting galleries.

An Italian museum has started using AI-powered cameras tomeasure the attraction value of works of art.

The ShareArt devices collect visual data on spectators, such as how long they look at a painting and where on thecanvas their attention is focused.

Thanks to simple data elaboration, an observers gaze can be translated into a graphic, Stefano Ferriani, one of the researchers behind the project, told Bloomberg CityLab. We can detect where most of peoples attention is concentrated.

The system could help curators understand which artworks and layouts appeal to visitors. A useful purpose, I suppose but the tech fills me with dread.

Data analytics have influenced art for centuries, from counting footfall at theaters to projecting album sales.

In more recent years, the Relativity Media studio has been using predictive algorithms to select movies to produce.

Im not in this for the art, said Relativity founder Ryan Kavanaugh in 2012.

The company has since filed for bankruptcy twice.

In galleries,AI can help improve accessibility and makeexhibitions more interactive. But its a horribly reductive measurement of artistic value.

Our attention is often drawn to the controversial or bizarre before the subtle and thoughtful. Brilliant works could be overlooked because they dont generate sufficient engagement.

Furthermore, our expressions are, at best, an unreliable measurement of our feelings. We all show our emotions differently and algorithms often fail to discern them particularly when theyre applied to minority groups.

The ShareArt system is currently focused on gaze analysis, but with rules on masks easing, it could soon move on to facial gestures. That sounds like another good reason to wear a face covering even if COVID disappears.

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Galleries are using AI to measure the quality of art SET ME AFLAME - The Next Web