The Work of Art in the Age of AI: Walter Benjamin for the 2020s | Megasets | FMX HIVE 2023

In a world of ever increasing automation, what is the emerging role of the artist? How can we artists and engineers work together to leverage the new generative AI revolution both to create interesting experiences and to accelerate the development of autonomous and safety critical systems. Megasets founder Sam Swift-Glasman takes us on a journey drawn from his own experience in the creative and automotive simulation spaces to demonstrate how crucial digital content generation is becoming across many verticals. We will project the seminal ideas of Walter Benjamin and see what interesting parallels and lessons we can find in the current drive to digitise the world. Sam Swift-Glasman has had a varied computer graphics career across several industries. He spent well over a decade at studios large and small, working as an artist, lead and engineer on weird and wonderful projects from art installations, music videos and commercials to huge animation and VFX features and episodic shows. He made his transition into the world of autonomous vehicles in 2018, leading a team building digital twins and synthetic training data at Five AI before spinning out and founding his own company Megasets in 2020 who are about to launch their first product alpha. He studied music at the University of Westminster, maths and computer science at the Open University and is an avid drummer, grunge rocker and father. He has been a massive Houdini geek since the early days of his career.