ChatGPT. GitHub. DALL-E. Midjourney. The list of generative AI tools continues to grow and to be used by an increasingly varied audience. The creative arts are among the fields seeing both benefits and challenges from the use of these tools, stirring discussion on what it means to be an artist. Join the discussion as IEEE TechEthics hosts a public panel session addressing the ways in which AI is impacting the artistic process and how it may be putting into question the way society views art. 

Panelists include Ahmed Elgammal (Rutgers University), Anna Gressel (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP), Carla Gannis (New York University), and Dan Navarro (SAG-AFTRA). IEEE's Mark A. Vasquez ME'88 moderates. 

Watch the program here.

Dr. Ahmed Elgammal is a professor at the Department of Computer Science and an Executive Council Faculty at the Center for Cognitive Science at Rutgers University. He is the founder and director of the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers. Dr. Elgammal has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and books in the fields of computer vision, machine learning and digital humanities. Dr. Elgammal is also the founder of Playform AI, a platform for making AI accessible for artists. Dr. Elgammal's research on knowledge discovery in art history, AI-art generation, and AI-based art authentication received global media attention, including several reports in the Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, NBC, CBS News, Science News, and many others. In 2016, a TV segment about his research, produced for PBS, won an Emmy award. In 2017, he developed AICAN, an autonomous AI artist and collaborative creative partner, which was acclaimed in an Artsy editorial as "the biggest artistic achievement of the year." AICAN art has been exhibited in several art venues in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, San Francisco, New York City, and the National Museum of China. In 2021, he led the AI team that completed Beethoven's 10th symphony, which received worldwide media coverage.

A counsel in the Litigation Department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Anna Gressel advises clients on a wide range of complex and high-impact matters related to AI, blockchain, and other innovative technologies. She was recently named by Re-Work as one of the “Top 100 Women Leading AI in 2023.” Gressel is deeply experienced in regulatory investigations, examinations, and civil litigation related to digital technologies. She leverages her extensive knowledge of emerging AI and data-related laws, regulations, and industry best practices to counsel companies in implementing effective compliance, governance, and enterprise risk management policies and procedures. She has also represented technology companies in challenging and complex regulatory inquiries involving AI products and services, including alleged discrimination under U.S. civil rights laws involving machine learning algorithms. 

Carla Gannis’s art is characterized by a commitment to experimentation. Throughout her career, she has worked with an array of mediums and tools, including drawing, painting, video, interactivity, extended reality, and machine learning models. Her multilayered narratives engage with the loci of identity within the context of atomized and hyperreal 21th century conditions. Gannis’s work has appeared in exhibitions, screenings and internet projects across the globe. Her most recent projects include wwwunderkammer at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC (2023); Virtues and Vices at Telematic Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2023); and Welcome to the wwwunderkammer at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (2022). Publications that have featured Gannis’s work include Wired, FastCo, Hyperallergic, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, El PaÍs, and The Los Angeles Times, among others. She is an Industry Professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering in the Integrated Design and Media Program. 

Dan Navarro enjoys a six-decade career as a songwriter, singer, recording artist, voice actor, and activist; over 21 acclaimed solo and duo albums; thousands of concerts; hit movies, including Oscar-winners "Encanto", "Coco" and "Happy Feet", and the 2022 hit "Puss In Boots: The Last Wish"; TV shows, games, records and commercials. He co-wrote Pat Benatar’s Grammy-nominated “We Belong”, plus songs for The Bangles, Dionne Warwick, and Dave Edmunds. Dan serves on the SAG-AFTRA National Board, is a Trustee on the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Fund, and is on the Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee of the Mechanical Licensing Collective. In May 2023, he testified on AI before the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee, and in October 2023, before international copyright ministers at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Navarro is the personification of the engaged Renaissance artist, insisting that art is love, music is food and sleep is for babies. 

Mark A. Vasquez (moderator) is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with over 30 years of experience in association management at IEEE. He currently serves as the senior program manager for IEEE TechEthics. In this capacity, he works to develop relationships with others in the technology ethics community, produces events, convenes thought leaders, and more. In previous roles, Vasquez led the team responsible for the acquisition and distribution of articles, recordings and other intellectual property (IP) from IEEE conferences, introduced new strategic conference programs, such as virtual events, and helped develop new policies related to IP, ethics, and other key governance matters. He is an engineering graduate of The Cooper Union. 

Part of the IEEE TechEthics Conversation Series, in collaboration with The Cooper Union Albert Nerken School of Engineering. IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.