Expressive AI: A Semiotic Analysis of Machinic Affordances

Expressive AI is a hybrid practice, combining artificial intelligence (AI) research and art making, that simultaneously focuses on the negotiation of meaning mediated by an art object and the internal structure of AI systems. These two apparently disparate views are unified through the concept of affordance: negotiation of meaning is conditioned by interpretive affordances while the internal structure of the AI system is conditioned by authorial affordances. This paper employs a structuralist semiotic analysis to unpack the notion of interpretive and authorial affordance, exploring the deep relationships between AI code structures, authorial intentionality, and culturally negotiated meaning.