AI + Art = Curiosity
The visual artists I feature use new tech tools to expand their imaginative potential. The Floating Questions podcast features conversations with technologists who are doing the same thing.
Floating Questions was developed by Rui, an AI Product Manager, as a personal project that would free her curiosity to explore the real-world lives of tech professionals.
Rui’s podcast let me hear stories about her guests, often accidental introductions to tech and science. We learn about their dreams, the sacrifices they make, and the moral conundrums they navigate.
When Rui invited me to speak, I checked out a couple of her earlier podcasts and then listened to a few more. I ended up binging out on the entire series.
Because Rui is an excellent listener, again and again, we hear her guests say, “That’s a great question!” Working in tech, she can relate to her speakers. Like Rui, several guests are the first in their families to leave their accessorial homes and embrace a global lifestyle. During one conversation, as Rui and a guest discussed breaking away from tradition in order to make their dreams a reality, they teared up, and I did too.
Another conversation introduced me to the concept of video games as an art form. I’ve heard this assertion before and wasn’t convinced, but listening to a guest who creates artistic games made me a believer.
The word passion came up in nearly every podcast. The professional stories we hear vary from those who prefer working in a structured, well-financed corporation to those who flourish in the difficult start-up environment. One guest liked risky ventures. He hunted security hackers. One relished solving the “street-level” problems small businesses face. While another gave up “real-world” problem-solving and gratefully returned to academia and research. His “passion.” Another guest became an author. His books on product management inspired Rui. A start-up guy talked about “shifting left,” and people Rui met back in college at MIT shared their ‘Then versus Now’ transformations.
Tech Inc. is vast, shiny, rich, and desirable. Techies are portrayed as young, nerd-genius types who work a million hours. Invent things that change the world. Then cash out to live simple lives on private islands... I’m exaggerating, of course, yet I found myself surprised by the real lives Rui’s guests actually live.
Like the artists I cover, these technologists are laying down their own paths. No one said the word “philosophy.” Yet I sense new beliefs bubbling up through the filter of their groundbreaking experiences. Talent, motivation, education, and hard work have given each of Rui’s guests the freedom to move and choose projects that interest them; things they feel passionate about. One woman explained that when she looked up in the sky and saw satellites she helped to put there, she was still amazed by all she’d done.
Rui’s guests, with their flexible, innovative mindsets, are creating new ways of getting into and being part of the real world, using tech as their creative medium.
Rui found me through ChatGPT. She asked it to find people working in AI and art, and up I came. It was a pleasure to meet her and record a program for her podcast, Floating Questions. Our conversation about artists, art, and AI was fast, broad, and daring.
She asks great questions. Enjoy. – Julia Morton
There are lots of ways to access the Floating Questions Podcast
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@FloatingQuestions
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
https://www.instagram.com/floating.questions