Eryk Salvaggio - Cybernetic Forests

The Audience Makes the Story

Puppetry as Dream Analysis for AI Anxiety This is a discussion between Camila Galaz, Emma Wiseman, and Eryk Salvaggio, collaborators behind an experimental workshop linking puppetry and generative AI that took place at RMIT in Melbourne this summer at the invitation of Joel Stern and the National Communications Museum. We

Human Literacy

Something I Can Tell Students Now That I Am Not Teaching You and I probably both keep hearing that students should be working toward AI literacy. That you should know what to type into prompt windows, because it will save you time. That will get you jobs in the economy

Photograph of a notebook opened to a list of hand-written blood pressure data.

My Father's Data

My father died on June 30 while rescuing a bird trapped inside his garage. While closing a window behind it, he fell from a ladder, lost consciousness, and died. It was the week of his birthday, and he had gone out with three groups of friends over the week. He

net art

Is AI Art Net Art?

Video & prepared remarks for the symposium with Vladan Joler, Valentina Tanni & Eryk Salvaggio examining the transformation and consolidation of the Web from the 1990s up to the age of generative AI.

policy

In Copyright ‘Wins’ for AI, Judges Leave Room for Future Defeats

My latest piece in Tech Policy Press examines two AI copyright rulings and the legal rationales that will likely be setting precedent beyond the the short-term legal victories.

The Black Box Myth

If you missed it, my piece in Tech Policy Press tackles the relationship the AI industry has with uncertainty: using what they don't know about AI as evidence that they're right, or that it should be feared, or that it can't be properly regulated.

Complete Accuracy Collapse

A new paper from Apple proves what I've discussed before – that so-called "reasoning" models aren't doing much reasoning at all – but now that is clear even by the bizarre industry definitions of the term. The researchers created a series of puzzles with similar problem-solving

A bearded man with black glasses gestures with open hands at a podium in front of banners for the AI Forum, with purple blobs.

talks

The Decision Not to Decide

Interfaces, and design of all kinds, exercise decision-making. Decision making is a form of power. What, then, is generative AI for design?

A large building which appears covered in scaffolding, reflecting the unique "inside out" architecture of the French Contemporary Art Museum.

democracy

Democracy & the AI Question

Remarks from an in-person debate, 'L’IA en question, questions à l’IA', a two-day event at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, on May 24/25. The event focused on debates about the role of AI in contemporary society.

talks

Human Noise, AI Filters: "Mr. Watson, Come Here."

Remarks on AI, Noise, and Creative Misuse for the Artificial Intelligence & Contemporary Creation conference, 24 May 2025 at the Jeu de Paume, Paris.

Abstract clusters of texture like mold on a red and white carpet.

A Personalized Ecology of AI

I'm three events into this tour talking about AI, and there's a question about the environment every time. What's the environmental impact of AI? In London, the question was a bit more pointed: How do I justify using AI as an artist, knowing the

Machines Cannot Feel or Think, but Humans Can, and Ought To

My new piece in Tech Policy Press is up, and it’s about the recent re-emergence of very silly chatter about whether AI “experiences the world” and therefore ought to have something akin to human rights. In the piece, I argue that they don’t need them. Here’s how

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