At the Plaza at 300 Ashland Place in downtown Brooklyn, patrons mill around a large yellow shipping container with black triangles painted on its side. A nod to the flying geese quilt pattern, which may have served as a coded message for enslaved people escaping to freedom along the Underground Railroad, the design and container serve as a bridge between the past and the future of the African diaspora. At the center of the art project by the Brooklyn-based transmedia artist Stephanie Dinkins, a large screen displays artificial intelligence (AI) generated images that showcase the diversity of the city. Commissioned by the New York-based art non-profit More Art and designed in collaboration with the architects LOT-EK, the AI laboratory If We Don't, Who Will? will be on display until 28 September. It seeks to challenge a white-dominated generative-AI space by highlighting Black ethos and cultural cornerstones.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but Mouse on Mars co-founder Jan St. Werner thinks artificial intelligence can help us expand what it means to be a human being. If the idea of increased enmeshment with technology strikes you as invasive and deeply unsettling on a gut level, you're certainly not alone. Even the band's latest collaborator, science fiction scholar Louis Chude-Sokei, freely admits that he can't forecast how AI will develop as we move forward. On AAI, the new Mouse on Mars album, the veteran electronic outfit (which also includes fellow co-founder Andi Toma and longtime drummer/percussionist Dodo NKishi) embraces that uncertainty with an inquisitive, even playful approach to the concept of artificial intelligence. Working alongside Chude-Sokei and a group of software programmers, the band captured a machine-learning process whereby an AI system becomes increasingly aware and, in a sense, sentient as the album progresses.