Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Architecture

We excited to announce that KTH School of Architecture is organizing a conference on the intersection of Architecture and Artificial Intelligence, to take place on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of March 2024 online and at KTH School of Architecture, KTH Digital Futures and KTH Library. The theme of the conference is "Critical Architectural Intelligence: AI and Digitalization in the Present and Future of Architecture, Society, and the Environment". This event will be an interdisciplinary confluence of ideas, research, and discussions, bringing together experts from architecture and artificial intelligence.

Online: www.youtube.com/@architectresearcher

Onsite venues: KTH Digital Futures, KTH School of Architecture and KTH Library
19 March: 12.00-16.00
20 March: 12.00-16.00
21 March: 12.00-16.00

Stay tuned at www.arch.kth.se/en  for more details on the program, speakers and more updates.

"Critical Architectural Intelligence: AI and Digitalization in the Present and Future of Architecture, Society, and the Environment"

The aim of this conference is to critically address the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in societies through architecture from a critical perspective, where we address tensions between social, economic, and political powers and the impact of AI on space, people, and the environment.

While AI has been part of everyday life for the last decade, technologies like ChatGPT are a turning point with their human-like production of conversations, poems, essays, and predictions of our next words, readings, and drawing lines. Some experts describe this change as a ‘platform shift’.

AI is developing at an unprecedented pace and some technology experts are asking for a break in the development of AI systems to reconsider its risks to society. An open letter from 29th March 2023 signed by more than 1,000 technology experts asked for a 6-month moratorium on AI models beyond ChatGPT4. The full extent of the impact and the risk of AI is unknown. One of the most evident risks is the bias of sources, the production of videos and images that cannot be differentiated from reality, untraceable references, and the marginalization of other voices. The input is also biased towards the content leaders on the internet, for example, prevalent languages, demographics and socio-cultural values, political opinions, or influencers who know how to take advantage of the logic of algorithms. It does not only integrate big data, but it also has machine learning, which adapts and answers autonomously.

We have largely relied until now on human-to-human recommendations to make decisions. However, now AI can mimic human behavior and provide us with recommendations in all aspects of our lives. While many of these new recommendations can expand our scope of options beyond our framework, these recommendations can also affect us in unknown ways our new paths. Some groups of people may prefer interaction with machines rather than with other humans precisely to avoid social embarrassment and insecurities.

The implications of AI in each field may differ. Until now, market rules have influenced many aspects of our daily lives, from the business strategy of large companies to environmental challenges. However, the factors shaping decisions are vastly enlarged by AI. These AI algorithms designed by specialists decide how to curate content, and it is uncertain if cultural, historical, and local aspects are included.

Architects are used to envision scenarios under big social, environmental, and economic challenges, helping organizations to prepare for complex futures. This conference aims to gather architects and researchers in the humanities to discuss the impact of AI and digital transformation on society from an architectural point of view. AI has made a quick entry into architecture, arts, and design. Many design and research processes have been made more efficient through AI, for example, checking against standards and forecasting.

This conference will situate AI in a broader context, featuring tensions between powers and agendas. With a panel of speakers from different domains, we aim to engage researchers in architecture and artificial intelligence to jointly address how AI affects each one of us in our practice or research.

We aim at discussing in this conference the following issues:

1. How can architects and creators contribute to addressing this emerging concern regarding the development of AI? In what tasks will AI replace architects and creators and what paths forward can it open? How is AI affecting research methods in architecture, history, and design? 
2. How much are we influenced by AI in our everyday choices, political opinions, travel destinations, and career paths? How is AI shaping critical discourse? How is AI influencing opinions and perceptions of reality about social, democratic, artistic, and urban domains at different scales?
3. How is AI affecting gender and non-binary issues? In what tasks AI will mean a substantial help for a more integrative society?
4. How is AI shaping our interaction with each other and with the environment?

Organizer: Ingrid Campo Ruiz
Support: Elizabeth Calderón Lüning, David Selander

Advisory Board: Katja Tollmar Grillner, Helena Mattsson, Ulrika Knagenhielm-Karlsson, Daniel Koch, Anders Bergström

Special thanks to:
The European Commission: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship Grant Number 101032687 — EQUBUILD.

KTH Digital Futures
KTH Digitalisation Platform
KTH School of Architecture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Built Environment