Author Identifier (ORCID)
Stuart Medley: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7324-8494
Abstract
This chapter explores what artificial intelligence (AI) intellectual property (IP) owners do in their promotional material to negotiate public distrust of AI. A separation can be observed between the aesthetics and ethics of digital product design where simplified visual design appears to mask the complexity of AI-enabled devices, and systems. These observations can apply to the graphic design and corporate verbal rhetoric surrounding AI-enabled products. In this chapter, AI visual rhetoric is compared to science fiction aesthetics. Examples of masking complexity are described as visual echoes of the ‘Mr Fusion’ design from Back to the Future, while the few AI designs which declare their complexity more openly are described as reflecting ‘Johnny 5’s’ design from Short Circuit. The authors delve into the nexus between the user experience (UX) of autonomous technology, its communication design, and the visual aesthetics used in its promotion as an emerging force.
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of Publication
10-22-2024
Publication Title
Humane Autonomous Technology
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
72579
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Medley, S., & Jung, J. (2024). Mr Fusion or Johnny 5? Visual rhetoric of AI design. In Humane Autonomous Technology: Re-thinking Experience with and in Intelligent Systems (pp. 295-324). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66528-8_13