Taliesin,

Digital Art,

and Humanity

in the Time of AI

Background source: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Taliesin West

Who was Frank Lloyd Wright?

...and why does organic architecture matter to digital design?

Why “organic principles”?

Background: Remington Orange's rendering: a stage in adapting an 18th-century pumpkin-house illustration for 3D modeling on the web.

Who was Frank Lloyd Wright?

  • 1867–1959
     
  • Studied mechanical engineering a U Wisconsin for 2 years (1885-1887) and dropped out to study with an architect in Chicago (Joseph Lyman Silbee)
     
  • Known for "organic" design

Falling Water, designed / built 1936–1937 for the Kaufmann family (owner of the famous Pittsburgh-based dept. store)

Wright's organic principles

 "Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union."

—Frank Lloyd Wright

 

 

  • Don't copy nature's forms
  • Build in and with nature, become nature
  • Building – humans – nature (integrate and synchronize)

Taliesin West Fellowship / School, started 1932, Scottsdale Arizona

a planned community of living/learning/practicing architects working with the landscape. (https://www.tsoa.edu/our-history) 

Taliesin West became The School of Architecture (still in Scottsdale, AZ)

"We offer a contemporary design education based on Wright’s philosophy of learning by doing, experimentation, and building with the landscape. We strive to bring lasting innovation, equity, and sustainability to the diverse communities that we serve. "

Wright's “organic commandment,“ first drafted sometime in the 1930s

...why does organic architecture matter for digital design?

In the cause of architecture. . .

Designing where people live and work in the physical world. . .

A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander

 

"This [pattern] language, like English, can be a medium for prose, or a medium for poetry. The difference between prose and poetry is not that different languages are used, but that the same language is used, differently.
...
It is possible to make buildings by stringing together patterns, in a rather loose way. A building made like this, is an assembly of patterns. It is not dense. It is not profound. But it is also possible to put patterns together in such a way that many many patterns overlap in the same physical space: the building is very dense; it has many meanings captured in a small space; and through this density, it becomes profound. 

Will Wright, Christopher Alexander, and Frank Lloyd Wright

The Will Lloyd Wright Dollhouse (Sims 1)

  • Alexander's A Pattern Language shares concerns with Frank Lloyd Wright's approach to architecture.
  • Will Wright is inspired to create The Sims as an architectural simulation, exploring how players shape spaces to the needs of the people living in them. 
    • The Sims has an "environment" score that is just as influential as hunger, sleep, or bladder scores in determining happiness. 
      • Spaces must be complete, functional, beautiful, and clean

AI Doesn't Understand Beauty

(or Functionality in this case)

An AI-generated house in inZoi:
No entrance; a kitchen with only a stove; a bathroom without a shower; a dedicated air purifier room; bedrooms smaller than bathrooms; a living room with a table and television, but no chairs. From Reddit.

John Searle's thought experiment:
the Chinese Room... (~1980)

  • A person who knows English sits in a room with resources including a big book of instructions.
  • Outside the room people deliver questions in Chinese
  • The person picks up the instructions and looks up how to respond to patterns, following instructions (an algorithm)
  • The person delivers the algorithmic reply
  • The people outside read the Chinese response and it makes sense--believe that whoever occupies the room knows Chinese.
    • But the person doesn't know Chinese...
    • And the algorithm didn't immediately “read” the input message
    • If "reading" and "replying" happened, how did it happen?
    • Are all replies pre-scripted? predicted? 
    • (A weird premonition of chatting by algorithm w/ language models!)

Mark Riedl, drawn simulation from "A Very Gentle Introduction to Large Language Models without the Hype"  

Perceptions, Exaggerations, Hyperbole

Flawed genius or Shyster?

snake oil sales. . . 

 

Fears of technology taking us over

  • Fears of mechanization / tractors in 1930s 
  • Don't go to tech CEOs for historical info...

Realities: We are surrounded by AI 

  • It's in the hardware and software we rely on . .
    • computers
    • phones
  • Footage that teaches computers how to "see" and what to look for

"AI" is a misleading term

Especially in marketing

It encompasses lots of different kinds of machine learning.

The scope and purpose can be quite specific (like improving cancer screening) Or it can be extremely general (like ChatGPT)
It can be very open with its processes, algorithms, and datasets. Or it can be a black box, citing "industry secrets" even as it trains on copyrighted material.
It can be run off of a laptop Or it can rely on very large data centers

"Too close for comfort? A data center abuts homes in Loudoun County, Virginia. Credit: Hugh Kenny via Piedmont Environmental Council." from Jon Gorey, “Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom," Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 17 October 2025.

 

AI scaling magnifies existing problems

Stealing Signatures as “style”: Nano Banana 

(post date: 30 Nov 2025)

Stealing Signatures as “style”: Nano Banana
(30 Nov / 1 Dec 2025)

Realities: What can we do about it? 

  • What would you have to do to NOT use AI at all?
     
  • What can you do to practice “AI resilience” or ”AI resistance”?
    • AI resilience: implies we can't really shut it off or fully remove ourselves from it, but we can purposefully design, create, compose in places and modes that purposefully remove us from AI for a time.
      • Example: “AI-free spaces”: tech-limited places we want to go to, or we expect to use to prove we're resilient.
    • AI resistance: implies something more energetic: efforts to proof ourselves, our work, and our technologies from AI agents.
       
  • How do you make good decisions about any technology?
    • Know its risks and problems
    • Choose a few different tools to test them on low-risk things and see what works and where it fails.
    • Choose the best tool for a task and apply it mindfully.
    • Be a decision maker and  a guide for others.

Application of AI within a project for background features:
still 1 from Remington Orange’s Routine Rust.

Application of AI within a project for background features:
still 2 from Remington Orange’s Routine Rust.

Organizations working toward Change and Quality in the Digital Arts

A Conscientious Objector's Guide to GenAI

A fuller guide is in the works for Spring 2026

Turning off/Opting out

  • Most systems with AI-integrated features turn them on by default (because they need your buy-in, and they need your data)
  • This is often done quietly. Changes might be announced in a terms of service update (but who reads those?)
  • Check your settings, especially on social media, Microsoft/Apple/Google products.
    • You may not be able to opt out of everything...

Choosing Alternatives

  • This can be small-scale
    • Using Libre Office instead of Word
    • Using Vivaldi instead of Chrome
    • Moving from Github to Codeberg
    • Building your own website in Neocities
  • Or large scale
    • Switching to Linux
  • Most open-source software (especially anything published under a GNU Public License) is AI-free, often with a great deal of intentionality.

You aren't alone. In a world inundated by AI at every turn, there are lots of people who see the value in limiting its use or avoiding it altogether..  

What can a university program in Digital Media, Arts, and Technology do?

We know we can't seal ourselves off from AI.

We are tech-forward designers! Can we make ethical, creative use of AI? We learn by exploring how machines work and designing our own projects.

Can the “organic commandments” of the Taliesin School still guide us now in our digital projects?

Maybe that Taliesin West school recognized the same fundamental problems as we do now:

cheap designs that prioritize machine efficiency, careless quality control, technologies that turn whole people into needy consumers...

Love

the virtue of the heart

How will people access and understand your work? 

 

Human factors  | User experience design

Art as a product of

love/hate/desire/conviction

Art cannot come from a place of neutrality.

 

You cannot make art without emotion and engagement.

 

Algorithms cannot love; therefore, algorithms cannot make art. 

Sincerity

the virtue of the mind

 

 

 

 

Inspiration/Imitation/Homage

vs

Plagiarism/Theft/Disconnection

But when you use genAI tools, there is no throughline. The chain from artist to artist is fundamentally broken. There is no intent in what you choose to lift from, no homage to a piece of art that was so meaningful to you that you sought to reference it in your own work, as genAI will not tell you where it is sourcing from. And because it doesn’t, it isn’t saying anything meaningful about the works it takes from, because it can’t. And let’s be real, these developers aren’t using AI tools to make artistically subversive multimedia work; they’re cheaply plugging a hole in their production line. There’s no artistic intent I can ascribe to the use of LLMs other than the intent to save money.

From Río Robayo's "I’m Still Not Done Talking About AI Use in The Alters"

AI cannot be sincere.

It cannot know,

it cannot feel,

and chatbot models are becoming increasingly sycophantic

Courage

the virtue of the spirit

Don’t be ruled by fear of technology. Be courageous and adventurous!

But also have the courage to make deliberate choices, follow your own ethics, and try new things.

Decision

the virtue of the will

Choose your tools mindfully and make them your own. 

 

Art is intentional. Every decision matters. 

 

Taliesin, Digital Art, and Humanity in the Time of Ai

By Elisa Beshero-Bondar

Taliesin, Digital Art, and Humanity in the Time of Ai

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