Artificial Intelligence, Art and Indigeneity
Between Dreams and Hallucinations
Distributed for University of London Press
Artificial Intelligence, Art and Indigeneity
Between Dreams and Hallucinations
This book explores the cultural and ethical implications of generative AI through the lens of Indigenous visual culture in Latin America.
Responding to the rise of tools like DALL·E 2 and Midjourney, this groundbreaking volume documents the AIAI project (2023–), which invited a group of Indigenous artists and writers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Peru to critically engage with image generation technologies. Through collaborative experimentation with a range of both commercial and bespoke tools, contributors reflect on the promises and pitfalls of AI—from its potential for ‘dreaming’, for imagining Indigenous futures, to the frustration of its ability to ‘hallucinate’, to distort and misrepresent Indigenous cultures.
Bringing together artists, writers, and scholars, the book challenges dominant narratives around AI and representation, using a decolonial framework rooted in Indigenous epistemologies. Structured in three parts—context and theory, creative reflections, and generative critique—it foregrounds multivocal and multilingual perspectives, resisting homogenisation and reframing participatory research. This is the first book-length study of generative AI’s impact on Indigenous visual culture in Latin America, making a timely and vital contribution to global debates on AI, art, and cultural sovereignty.
Table of Contents
Introduction
- Part I AI, Art and Indigeneity
Thea Pitman 1 AI and Art
2 Indigenous AI
3 Indigenous Art and AI
4 Indigenous Art and AI in a Latin American Context
5 A Timeline of AIAI
6 Methodology
Part II Between Dreams and Hallucinations
7 Creative Authenticity and Artificial Visual Sensibility/ Autenticidad Creativa y Sensibilidad Visual Artificial
Nicolás Jiménez Reyes(Azul)8 Artificial Intelligence or the Artifices of Intelligence/ Inteligencia Artificial o los Artificios de la Inteligencia
Lucio Torrez Soria(Lucian de Silenttio)9 From an Account of One’s Own to a Model of One’s Own/Desde una Cuenta Propia hasta un Modelo Propio
Haylly Zamora Aray10 The Cosmic Forest and AI/ A Cosmofloresta e a IA
Tadeu Dos Santos (Tadeu Kaingang / Ta No Kaingang)11 I Even Dream about AI/ Hasta Sueño con la IA
Mariela Tulián12 Nikiékliwahi and the Spirit of the Machine, and Indigenous Digital Realism/Nikiékliwahi e o Espírito da Máquina, e Realismo Digital Indigena
José Nunes de Oliveira (Nhenety Kariri-Xocó)Part III Generative Thoughts
13 Alterity and the Representation of Indigenous Peoples with Gen AI Tools
Sandra De Berduccy14 Indigenous Futurism
Thea Pitman15 AI, Appropriation and Ancestrality
Sebastián Gerlic16 INDIGENIA and Digital Buen Vivir
Andreas Rauh and Alexsandro Cosmo de Mesquita (Alex Potiguara)17 Text-to-image Generation Tools and the Vexed Question of Language
Thea Pitman18 Dragon Dreaming: Designing a Prototype Indigenous AI Image Generator
Dave Lynch and Sam Hallas19 Exhibiting the AIAI Project
Thea Pitman, Sandra De Berduccy and Andreas Rauh20 Algorithmic Indigeneity
Sandra De Berduccy- Conclusion