Art Collections and AI: The Impact of Automation on Art History

How does AI impact the study of large image collections? Given the rapid growth of generative AI, Wasielewski examines the effect of visual AI models like DALL-E or Stable Diffusion on the cultural heritage sphere and what they mean for art historical concepts like style. The talk explores some of the practical and theoretical issues inherent in applying AI techniques in the study and curation of art, looking at the topic through the lens of art historiography. How are biases in Western art compounded through automation? Do the advantages of automating with AI outweigh the potential for bias, or do they represent a step backward from the postcolonial critiques of the 20th century?

Speaker Bio

Amanda Wasielewski is Associate Senior Lecturer of Digital Humanities and Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of ALM (Archives, Libraries, Museums) at Uppsala University in Sweden. Her research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence tools to study and create art and images. Wasielewski is the author of several monographs including Computational Formalism: Art History and Machine Learning (2023) by MIT Press. Her new book, Digital Photography After AI, will be published in 2026.