The Short Version: AI, photography and your lyin' eyes
Has AI once-and-for-all destroyed our ability to tell truth from lies in photographs?
(Spoiler: Photos were never reflections of absolute truth.)
In the spring semester season finale of The Short Version, Danny Goodwin, chair of the Department of Art & Art History, explores our foolhardy pursuit of truth from images "that can only lie" — and why it's wrong to blame photography for the ways humans deceive themselves with technology. Goodwin says artificial intelligence didn’t cause this crisis of confidence, but to him the prescription is clear: slow down and think.
The conversation is the second of two to close the semester that focus on photography, culture and how we use art and technology to help us reckon with weighty things that lack scientific certainty. If you missed last week's spooky conversation on spirit photography with Associate Professor Erica Fretwell of the English Department, it will haunt you forever if you leave for the semester without checking it out.
Catch up this summer on what you missed
Actually, there's no need to be haunted by what you missed. Use your much-deserved downtime this summer to catch up on The Short Version's full spring season — covering neuroscience to dark matter to climate fiction and decarbonization. All our episodes are available on Simplecast, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.
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Suggest a topic or guest
We're already planning our fall semester season for the podcast. Have an idea for an interesting topic or guest? We want to hear about it! Email ideas to [email protected] and put The Short Version in the subject line.