How a Film Festival Changed My Mind About AI | An Internationalist's Perspective

I started writing this post with the intention of tackling some concerns I have with AI in regards to technology gaps, but it quickly became a personal retelling of how I became interested in the topic. As it was turning out to be more personal, I figured it would be best to keep my initial topic as its own thing and simply share my journey on including the AI variable in my thinking, and possibly my work.

A few weeks ago I attended Chain Festival, the first Artificial Intelligence Festival in Latin America on Film, Music and Advertising. My sister was attending as a speaker (Andrea Mata, Creative Director & Digital Designer) and I simply happened to be visiting with my mother, so we joined.

To be honest, I didn't have much expectation because the topics were not my area of expertise and until that moment I had (with little success) tried ignoring the overwhelming presence of AI in everyday life. In the end, I was glad to be there. Initially, because I could support my sister, but listening to experts talk about this technology beyond the topics of the festival made something click in my brain.

The weeks before I had become consistently more apprehensive and concerned about the various events happening around the world, among them the exponential growth of AI and what it means for us as humans. I hadn't expected these broader issues to come up at the Festival, but they did.

The themes of the festival were not of trade and development, international conflict, climate change, existential questions, threats to humanity, or any of the sort. Yet, it was clear that for everyone involved there was an inherent concern about how AI was changing the world beyond their own professions.

The highlight for me was the panel, with people from diverse backgrounds in creative, political and marketing fields. One panelists, producer Pedro Damián (any Mexican in the 30-35 year old range should know him as the creator of  RBD) quickly dismissed a question about the future of Television in the age of AI to call out war as the thing where AI is now being used widely, and how we should pay attention to this type of shift as well. This comment seemed to encourage the other panelists to express some of their own concerns and as an audience member it was very enriching to listen.

For me, it was a moment of consideration. I was constantly worrying about various issues and changes happening in the world, but I was also absentmindedly minimizing the role of AI in all of it. I confess, part of it was that fear of what it represents and lack of knowledge as well, but furthermore, anything tech related always seemed too far away from my work and my passions.

This was a good wake-up call, and since then I've researched and learned more about AI and its interconnectedness with the topics I care about, just to realize that it is actually a topic I am extremely intrigued and concerned about. Initially, I also wondered how much I could contribute to the discussion when I don't have a specific background in tech, but AI has permeated all areas and I believe there is value in contributing with what I know and adding the Artificial Intelligence variable to the topics I am already working on.

Moving forward, I hope to be able to learn and discuss more on AI and how it relates to the topics that have always interested me, like gender, access to education, climate change, sustainability and human rights. Furthermore, because this technology is always changing and improving, it's important to keep preparing myself and keep the discussion alive.

With this in mind, I'm working on a creative project that I hope to properly start soon and will allow me to connect with others that have the same worries and are also on a journey of figuring out their space in this AI era.

If anything here has piqued your interest, don't hesitate to reach out!

Here's my contact info:

daniela.mata@tutamail.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmata/