Islamic artists in Singapore use abstract art to evade AI surveillance

James, a researcher in Singapore, studied how the use of artificial intelligence by the government affects the Muslim community in Southeast Asia.

His work is part of the One Amongst Zeroes project, which examines how people in the region interact with and respond to machine learning technologies. Islamic artists in Singapore collaborated with James to explore how they can protect their identities from government systems. These artists refused to choose between simply giving up information or remaining silent.

Instead, they used their work to reflect the hidden choices governments make regarding their lives and to critique how technology monitors their movements and identities. The artists employed a method James calls blurring to create art that is difficult for large language models to interpret. By creating abstract works that highlight the diversity of Muslim identity, they made their cultural expression visible in public spaces while remaining illegible to AI systems.

James suggests that this approach helps people maintain their presence in public without becoming vulnerable to state surveillance.