"After Alignment" Lecture by Benjamin Bratton, Director of Antikythera

On Wednesday June 28th 2023, Benjamin Bratton, Director of Antikythera and Professor of Philosophy of Technology and Speculative Design at the University of California, San Diego, gave a lecture at Central Saint Martins' Platform Theater on the topic of synthetic intelligence.

A capstone to Antikythera's inaugural design research studio cycle, Bratton shared work from the program’s design studio and discussed shifts from AGI to artificial generic intelligence, the importance of recursive simulations, the de-centering of personal data, the emergence of cognitive infrastructures, intelligence as an evolutionary scaffold, the limitations of mainstream AI ethics, and why a planetary model of synthetic intelligence must drive its geopolitical project.

The emergence of machine intelligence must be steered toward planetary sapience in the service of a viable longterm future. However, instead of a strong alignment with “human values” and anthropocentric models, that steerage means treating these with nuanced suspicion.

Synthetic intelligence refers to the wider field of artificially-composed intelligent systems that do or not correspond to humanism but which can complement and combine with human cognition, intuition, creativity, abstraction and discovery. Inevitably, both sides are forever altered by these diverse amalgamations.

The lecture was produced as part of the Planetary Sensing in the City, a project exploring futures for CSM in catalysing emerging technologies in research, teaching, and strategy.

Planetary Sensing in the City is led by Stephanie Sherman (Course Leader, MA Narrative Environments), John Wollaston (CSM Digital & Emerging Technologies) and Stefan Sloneczny (CSM Digital Innovation), and supported by the Creative Action Fund and the Staff Development fund.