“Metaphor of AI” involves researching the capitalist and imperialist issues happening behind the scenes of ongoing AI development, as well as the potential future problems that development could bring about. I intend to create visual storytelling and visual materials as critical commentary on these issues.
The fiercely competitive AI industry is pouring all its resources and talent into developing AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). While some argue this is for the abundance, happiness, and public interest that artificial intelligence brings to humanity, there is also a contrasting reality: it creates environmental and humanitarian sacrifices, costs, and victims. Numerous issues demand attention, and they are reproduced daily by the ongoing evolution of AI.
We find ourselves in an ambivalent state: while having a vague sense of dread, we are already deployed and integrated into our daily lives by tech giants who are unconditionally accelerating in a direction not aligned with the future we desire, yet we benefit to some extent from its convenience. I wish to explore what artistic practices can reflect these absurd situations.
What can I do as an artist to depict this absurdity? Another goal is to gather the voices of scientists, journalists, lawyers, environmentalists, activists, scholars, and others who have pinpointed these problems, and to examine what is required of us.
Haruna Inagaki is a Japanese film artist, based in Bergen. She holds a bechelor’s degree in Art Education from Tokyo Gakugei University and master's degree in Visual Communication from KMD at the University of Bergen. Her artistic research has explored visual storytelling using metaphor and humor, layering structural issues within human society to reveal the absurd social systems surrounding mass-produced and mass-consumed goods. Her stop-motion film Home Immigration was selected to Høstutstillingen from Norske Billedkunstnere in 2025, and she received a diploma in the Visueltprisen from Grafill in the category “Moving Image” for the film Kjøkkenskap Selskap (2024). She has also had film screenings at the Minimalen Short Film Festival (Trondheim), Shibuya TANPEN Film Festival (Tokyo), and MORC Comadori Animation Festival (Tokyo). In 2024, Home Immigration was nominated for the Amandus Blikkfang film festival (Lillehammer), and in the same year, it was selected as a finalist at the United for Peace Film Festival (Tokyo).