Exploring A.I., equity through Ragdale

Caleb Pope ‘27
popecse95@lakeforest.edu
Staff Writer

Lake Forest College is partnering with Ragdale, an artist residency program, to explore artificial
intelligence (AI) and how it intersects with equity and social justice through their work.
The HUMAN Residency Fellowship is funded by a $1.2 million grant from the Mellon
Foundation in New York. The fellowship is designed to explore artificial intelligence through a
humanities perspective, equipping students with the skills to ethically integrate AI into their
professional lives.

The partnership is led by Davis Schneiderman, executive director of the Krebs Center for the
Humanities and professor of English. Schneiderman has examined and researched the
intersections between artificial intelligence and the humanities.
“While so much of our collective imagination is trained in the future—dystopian scenarios where
AI takes over the world—HUMAN is also interested in how AI is impacting people today,” he
said.

One need only consider questions of labor displacement, algorithmic bias, surveillance, mental
health, and the many ways AI is reshaping everything from education and healthcare to art,
relationships, and the way we make meaning in a digital age.” Schneiderman said.
Ragdale, which was founded in 1976 in Lake Forest by poet Alice Hayes, is a residency for
artists from diverse disciplines to perform, write, and lecture on the arts. The HUMAN Residency received approximately 100 applicants for six awards, and a curatorial committee
with representatives from Ragdale and Lake Forest College worked together over the course of
the past fall on selections, according to Schneiderman.

The selected artists, who often use AI to investigate AI, include:

Serena Dokuaa: poet and an AI policy expert who writes about ancestry, Black
womanhood, and the sociotechnical analyses of AI, particularly how it affects Black
communities. She is interested in “critiquing AI from the position of loving humanity.”

GoldGrrl: dance and performance artist who examines the intersections of technology
and Black culture. She explores how technological advancement can lead to the
dehumanization of minority groups.

Praba Pilar: stage performer and scholar who has worked with AI to criticize both itself
and the oppression of groups through technological advancement. Pilar incorporates her
Colombian identity into her performances and uses AI in scholarly work to showcase a
critique of AI.

Kate Reed: sculptural artist and designer for wearable technology who specializes in
building machines, modifying biology, augmenting the body, and growing technology.

Özge Samanci: media artist and graphic novelist whose interactive installations have
been exhibited internationally. She recently shared a piece that connects human attention
to the changing images of a computer-generated ocean.

Carissa Véliz: author who advises companies and policy makers worldwide about the
ethics of AI. Véliz authored the book Privacy Is Power and is an editor for Oxford’s
Handbook of Digital Ethics.

The artists will spend two blocks of time at Ragdale: an initial six-day AI-themed residency
taking place in April 2025 and an individual 18-day fee-waived residency to be scheduled in
2026 or 2027, according to the fellowship’s website. The fellowship includes a $1,000 stipend for
the initial themed residency and a $3,000 stipend for the individual residency, which may be
used for travel or other expenses.