At first sight, when an algorithm unjustly classifies an image as harmful on social media and takes it down, this seems like a minor issue. When it comes to images and AI, other fears take center stage: will AI spell the end of human artists? Will deep fake images create an inescapable swamp of disinformation, discrimination and hate?
Meanwhile, censoring algorithms are not just shaping newsfeeds, but visual culture in general, quietly. There is the occasional scandal when the “wrong” kind of image, such as a famous work of art, is censored on social media. Yet most censorship takes place under the radar: regularly, artists are the last to know that their followers no longer see their images.
But just because something happens quietly, doesn’t mean it does not have tremendous impact on our visual culture. This is what the Taste of the Algorithm working group is dedicated to: to examine the impact of algorithmic censorship of images on our visual culture—and to propose solutions across a wide range of fields. Our group’s artist will create works about censorship for social media: we’re curious how long those will last.