Why Open Small AI Models Matter for Interactive Art

TL;DR

Open small AI models are crucial for interactive art as they provide artists with control, customization, and sustainability, unlike large closed-source systems that limit creative independence and pose technical and preservation challenges.

Contribution

This position paper highlights the importance of open small AI models for interactive art, emphasizing their benefits over closed-source systems in terms of control, customization, and preservation.

Findings

Open small AI models enable greater artistic control and customization.

Closed-source AI systems impose limitations on interactive artworks.

Open models support long-term preservation and artistic independence.

Abstract

This position paper argues for the importance of open small AI models in creative independence for interactive art practices. Deployable locally, these models offer artists vital control over infrastructure and code, unlike dominant large, closed-source corporate systems. Such centralized platforms function as opaque black boxes, imposing severe limitations on interactive artworks, including restrictive content filters, preservation issues, and technical challenges such as increased latency and limited interfaces. In contrast, small AI models empower creators with more autonomy, control, and sustainability for these artistic processes. They enable the ability to use a model as long as they want, create their own custom model, either by making code changes to integrate new interfaces, or via new datasets by re-training or fine-tuning the model. This fosters technological self-determination, offering greater ownership and reducing reliance on corporate AI ill-suited for interactive art's demands. Critically, this approach empowers the artist and supports long-term preservation and exhibition of artworks with AI components. This paper explores the practical applications and implications of using open small AI models in interactive art, contrasting them with closed-source alternatives.