ai cultural sabotage #4 – sarah ciston

The alleged inevitability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its seemingly bleak consequences seem to be passively accepted by most people. However, there are a number of theorists, activists and artists who, in a patient, informed and determined manner, are demystifying this inevitability, exposing the mechanisms that fuel it, revealing paradoxes and offering alternative visions, interpretations and attitudes. AI Cultural Sabotage invites these experts and dissidents to reflect on the topic.
This cycle is curated by Alessandro Ludovico, researcher, artist and founding editor of Neural, a magazine focused on media arts, electronic music and hacktivism, a form of digital activism based on hacker culture and ethics.

sarah ciston

Artist and researcher Sarah Ciston builds tools to bring intersectional, critical and creative approaches to machine learning. She is currently a fellow at CAIS – Centre for Advanced Internet Studies and holds a PhD in Media Arts + Practice from the University of Southern California. She is the author of the field guide A Critical Field Guide for Working with Machine Learning Datasets, and co-author of Inventing ELIZA: How the First Chatbot Shaped the Future of AI (published by MIT Press). Her work AI War Cloud Database won the S+T+ARTS 2025 Award for Artistic Exploration.

ai cultural sabotage is supported by

support portuguese republic – culture / general direction of the arts. rtcp – network of portuguese theaters and cinemas.