Let’s explore the visual grammars, references and cultural norms at play in the field of AI; from Kismet to Spot®, from Clippy to Claude. As a sector we can be hyper-focused on technical process and function, to the extent that it blinkers our understanding of the cultural and political impacts of our work. Aesthetics infuse every aspect of technology. Aesthetic interpretations are manifold and mutable, constructed in-congress with the observer and not fully defined by the original designer. AI technologies add additional layers of subtext: character, consciousness, agency, intent.

Despite this murkiness, or perhaps because of it, this talk makes an passionate argument for engaging with historical aesthetic movements, for building our shared professional knowledge of fads and fashions⎯not just from the past 40 years of internet culture⎯but also the past 140 years of ideology, technology, and thought.