A one-day summit (9AM-6PM) organized by Laura Kurgan, Director of the Masters of Science in Computational Design Practices Program at GSAPP and co-sponsored by The AI Activation Network and the Data Science Institute at Columbia University.

Widespread access to generative AI is changing design practices as we speak. In this summit we will ask how this is happening and how to evaluate it – politically, socially, technically. We will also consider the implications of this explosion across all scales of practice at GSAPP, and the difference it is already making.

In a series of panels, participants will present their work and discuss how their methods and practices have altered with new AI tools. We will ask about the difference between human and algorithmic intelligence. We will see how AI can be designed locally with local knowledge. We will address the systems architecture and politics behind AI in a more-than- human world. We will speculate on future modes of design practice that generative AI allows, or does not allow. We will query our queries – text to image, text to code, text to video, text to the unknown in the future. We will assess quantitative versus qualitative measures guiding AI policies in urban contexts, as well as what might motivate parameters in urban design.

Register here to attend the conference.

9 - 9:30 Introduction: Laura Kurgan (GSAPP)

9:30 - 11 Human AI: Can AI be guided by human intelligence? David Benjamin (GSAPP, The Living), Lydia Chilton (Columbia Engineering), Seth Cluett (Columbia Computer Music Center), Nikhil Garg (Cornell Tech). Moderated by Mark Hansen (Brown Institute for Media Innovation).

11:15 - 12:45 Local AI: How can AI incorporate local knowledge?
Maya Indira Ganesh (University of Cambridge), Catherine Griffiths (GSAPP), Dan Miller (GSAPP), Vernelle Noel (Carnegie Mellon). Moderated by Emanuel Admassu (GSAPP).

1:30 - 3:00 Spatial AI: How will AI affect the relationship between designers and tools?
Gia Jung (Google Delve), William Martin and Violet Whitney (GSAPP, Spatial Pixel), Dan Taeyoung (GSAPP), Richard The** (Parsons, The GreenEyl). Moderated by Adam Vosburgh.

3:15 - 4:45 Urban AI: Can AI learn urban intelligence?
Christopher Munsell (GSAPP, APRE Consulting), Nneka Sobers (New York City Innovation Team), Anthony Vanky (GSAPP), Sarah Williams (MIT). Moderated by Snoweria Zhang (GSAPP).

5:00 - 6:00: Planetary AI: What are the planetary impacts of AI?
Kate Crawford (USC, Microsoft Research) in conversation with Laura Kurgan (GSAPP)

The ACTIONING SUMMITS are an unprecedented effort to affirm how architecture, planning, development, and preservation are anticipating desirable and alternative futures. During a period of eight months, these summits will convene activists, architects, artists, designers, developers, ethnographers, historians, planners, policymakers, politicians, thinkers, and community organizers from around the world to address together eight crucial methodological shifts in the way the disciplines of the built environment operate and collaborate with each other.

The summits will offer a space and opportunity to situate specialized knowledge within specific histories and contexts. During the ACTIONING SUMMITS, participants will discuss a concrete methodological shift elaborated through the tools, practices, protocols, and forms of engagement that have unfolded as part of specific projects or processes they have actively participated in.

The ACTIONING SUMMITS are curated by Andrés Jaque, Dean, and Bart-Jan Polman, Director of Exhibitions and Public Programming and Curator of the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery.

Columbia University campus access is restricted to Columbia affiliates (with a valid CUID) and to pre-approved guests. To attend an event at GSAPP, please register here at least two business days in advance of the conference to request campus access and bring your ID.