arXiv subjects

Terence Broad

Publications and source records attributed to Terence Broad.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Still searching for an (un)stable equilibrium: visualising the process of training generative neural networks without data

(un)stable equilibrium is an ongoing series of works that is based on a practice of training generative neural networks without data. This paper introduces the second series of (un)stable equilibrium works, in which the process of training without data is visualised in a series of video pieces. These works show a generative network attempting to converge to a fixed point that is undefined, caught in an endless, unresolvable search for equilibrium. The video pieces described in this paper guide the viewer toward an understanding of AI through aesthetic experience rather than technical exposition, and strive to give a conceptual understanding of what AI could be, rather than a restatement of what it currently is. This project sits within a broader set of artistic practices that serve as an alternative and critical modes of explainability for AI.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

Proceedings of The Fourth International Workshop on eXplainable AI for the Arts (XAIxArts 4)

The fourth workshop on Explainable AI for the Arts (XAIxArts) continues to bring together and expand a community of researchers and creative practitioners in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, AI, eXplainable AI (XAI), and Digital Arts to explore the role of XAI for the Arts. XAI is a key concern of Responsible and Human-Centred AI, emphasising HCI techniques that make opaque AI models more understandable to people. XAIxArts offers a distinctive lens to examine explainability through creative and artistic domains. The previous workshops explored the landscape and the speculative futures of AI in creative processes. To respond to emerging challenges and contribute to creative and societal transformation more broadly, this workshop focuses on the operationalisation of XAI in the Arts. Specifically, we will: i) critically reflect on emerging practices that encourage diversity and inclusivity in XAI; ii) collectively ideate a library of missing projects to encourage future collaborations and speculations; iii) scope the development of a resource hub for open XAIxArts projects to archive tangible XAI interventions and facilitate future community building with the wider discourse on Human-Centred AI.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

XAIxArts Manifesto: Explainable AI for the Arts

Explainable AI (XAI) is concerned with how to make AI models more understandable to people. To date these explanations have predominantly been technocentric - mechanistic or productivity oriented. This paper introduces the Explainable AI for the Arts (XAIxArts) manifesto to provoke new ways of thinking about explainability and AI beyond technocentric discourses. Manifestos offer a means to communicate ideas, amplify unheard voices, and foster reflection on practice. To supports the co-creation and revision of the XAIxArts manifesto we combine a World Café style discussion format with a living manifesto to question four core themes: 1) Empowerment, Inclusion, and Fairness; 2) Valuing Artistic Practice; 3) Hacking and Glitches; and 4) Openness. Through our interactive living manifesto experience we invite participants to actively engage in shaping this XIAxArts vision within the CHI community and beyond.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Is computational creativity flourishing on the dead internet?

The dead internet theory is a conspiracy theory that states that all interactions and posts on social media are no longer being made by real people, but rather by autonomous bots. While the theory is obviously not true, an increasing amount of posts on social media have been made by bots optimised to gain followers and drive engagement on social media platforms. This paper looks at the recent phenomenon of these bots, analysing their behaviour through the lens of computational creativity to investigate the question: is computational creativity flourishing on the dead internet?

cs.CY↗

arXiv2021

Active Divergence with Generative Deep Learning -- A Survey and Taxonomy

Generative deep learning systems offer powerful tools for artefact generation, given their ability to model distributions of data and generate high-fidelity results. In the context of computational creativity, however, a major shortcoming is that they are unable to explicitly diverge from the training data in creative ways and are limited to fitting the target data distribution. To address these limitations, there have been a growing number of approaches for optimising, hacking and rewriting these models in order to actively diverge from the training data. We present a taxonomy and comprehensive survey of the state of the art of active divergence techniques, highlighting the potential for computational creativity researchers to advance these methods and use deep generative models in truly creative systems.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2021

Automating Generative Deep Learning for Artistic Purposes: Challenges and Opportunities

We present a framework for automating generative deep learning with a specific focus on artistic applications. The framework provides opportunities to hand over creative responsibilities to a generative system as targets for automation. For the definition of targets, we adopt core concepts from automated machine learning and an analysis of generative deep learning pipelines, both in standard and artistic settings. To motivate the framework, we argue that automation aligns well with the goal of increasing the creative responsibility of a generative system, a central theme in computational creativity research. We understand automation as the challenge of granting a generative system more creative autonomy, by framing the interaction between the user and the system as a co-creative process. The development of the framework is informed by our analysis of the relationship between automation and creative autonomy. An illustrative example shows how the framework can give inspiration and guidance in the process of handing over creative responsibility.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2021

Network Bending: Expressive Manipulation of Deep Generative Models

We introduce a new framework for manipulating and interacting with deep generative models that we call network bending. We present a comprehensive set of deterministic transformations that can be inserted as distinct layers into the computational graph of a trained generative neural network and applied during inference. In addition, we present a novel algorithm for analysing the deep generative model and clustering features based on their spatial activation maps. This allows features to be grouped together based on spatial similarity in an unsupervised fashion. This results in the meaningful manipulation of sets of features that correspond to the generation of a broad array of semantically significant features of the generated images. We outline this framework, demonstrating our results on state-of-the-art deep generative models trained on several image datasets. We show how it allows for the direct manipulation of semantically meaningful aspects of the generative process as well as allowing for a broad range of expressive outcomes.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2020

Amplifying The Uncanny

Deep neural networks have become remarkably good at producing realistic deepfakes, images of people that (to the untrained eye) are indistinguishable from real images. Deepfakes are produced by algorithms that learn to distinguish between real and fake images and are optimised to generate samples that the system deems realistic. This paper, and the resulting series of artworks Being Foiled explore the aesthetic outcome of inverting this process, instead optimising the system to generate images that it predicts as being fake. This maximises the unlikelihood of the data and in turn, amplifies the uncanny nature of these machine hallucinations.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2019

Searching for an (un)stable equilibrium: experiments in training generative models without data

This paper details a developing artistic practice around an ongoing series of works called (un)stable equilibrium. These works are the product of using modern machine toolkits to train generative models without data, an approach akin to traditional generative art where dynamical systems are explored intuitively for their latent generative possibilities. We discuss some of the guiding principles that have been learnt in the process of experimentation, present details of the implementation of the first series of works and discuss possibilities for future experimentation.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2019

Transforming the output of GANs by fine-tuning them with features from different datasets

In this work we present a method for fine-tuning pre-trained GANs with features from different datasets, resulting in the transformation of the output distribution into a new distribution with novel characteristics. The weights of the generator are updated using the weighted sum of the losses from a cross-dataset classifier and the frozen weights of the pre-trained discriminator. We discuss details of the technical implementation and share some of the visual results from this training process.

cs.LG↗