Sean Brosnahan




Rise of the Racist Robots

02Book (22 pages, 7.5” x 9”)
Spring 2023
Advised by Amy Auman, Ben Kiel


Article



Background

 Artificial intelligence, like humans, exhibits bias. Such technology perpetuates our biases, maintaining current social inequities from historical data. Stephen Buranyi's article “Rise of the Racist Robots” shows readers how AI perpetuates biases, highlighting ways in which AI discriminates users and echoing greater transparency within the technology industry. 



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The Objective

 Create a book for Buranyi’s article that echoes the systemic nature of AI’s biases through type as image and a progressing design system. To show the underlying nature of the problem, I used each spread as a progression: each spread gets more chaotic while exposing orange, emphasizing how bias proliferates.



Image-making Exploration

I created a design system through experimentation with analog materials. I crushed paper with printed code and smeared it with ink, charcoal, and paint. I decided to use ink throughout the book because its spreading effect aligned with the book’s concept. I then ripped it, collaged it, and destroyed it, seeing what textures and compositions I could create. I photographed my experiments, bitmapped them in photoshop, and manipulated with the colors using gradient mapping.

Final Image-Making

I chose India ink and water on paper because the medium aligned with the concept of AI spreading bias. The rigid, code-like forms of the typeface BC Sklonar, by Marek Pistora, contrast the fluidity of the ink.





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