AI, Hot Mess.
On view: Sept 4, 2025 to Feb 14, 2026 Antichambre—Space for Poetical Matters, MuseumsQuartier Wien
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “hot mess” as “something in a state of extreme disorder or disarray” and—at the same time—“attractive and sexy.” The media hype surrounding “AI“, as well as the onslaught of criticism against the overpromises made by the “AI” industry and its investors, reflect the chaos and lure of the topic on all sides.1
AI may seem like a ghostly force—a disembodied computing power hovering in the air—but AI is anything but abstract. AI systems are physical infrastructures, and in this sense, not artificial at all, but deeply rooted in the material world.2 Data, human labour, and planetary resources are the main components of AI systems and each raises critical questions about how we understand and engage with the world. The production of rapidly growing Generative AI systems requires large scale data centers using specialized chips which require high levels of energy for processing and water for cooling. A ChatGPT-powered search, according to the International Energy Agency, consumes almost 10 times the amount of electricity as a search on Google.3
The artist Hito Steyerl argues against the production of GenAI produced images that heat up the planet, disfranchise workers and fuel the arms trade, and questions whether such creations can even be called art.4
Kate Crawford, leading scholar of AI and its material impacts, points out that AI is neither artificial because of its physical infrastructures nor intelligent: “As for the intelligence part, I find it problematic that people approach LLM systems (ChatGPT) as if they were interacting with other humans. This anthropomorphisation generates the belief that there is a form of consciousness emerging from AI, but this is simply not the case.“
1 Hogan, Mél. 2024. “Artificial Intelligence Is a Hot Mess”. In Training the Archive: 33–52. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen. Walther König.
2 Crawford, Kate. 2021. Atlas of AI. Yale University Press
3 Halper, Evan; O'Donovan, Caroline. 2024. “AI is exhausting the power grid. Tech firms are seeking a miracle solution”. Washington Post, June 21. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/06/21/artificial-intelligence-nuclear-fusion-climate/
4 Steyerl, Hito. 2024. “Hot Takes: Image Production in Times of Climate Crises”. In Photography through the lens of AI. Foam #66.
The installation “AI, Hot Mess” is the outcome of a research phase during the summer of 2025. It arose from the perplexity that, despite the increasing everyday use of AI (aka Machine Learning) systems, few essential questions are being asked regarding the immense energy demands of (gen)AI systems, the vast environmental impacts, the exploitation of people through crowdworking, the extraction of planetary resources, large-scale datasets and the classification and categorisation of humans and our world.
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Antichambre is the anteroom of Design Duo Jutta Wacht and René Poell, aka Say Say Say, Inc., that acts as Space for Poetical Matters with temporary installations that come forward from between pop-culture, philosophy, sensuality, aesthetics, and technology.