Interrogating Technology-Induced Acceleration with Disobedient Discursive Machines

Generative AI (GenAI) is the latest manifestation of technology-induced acceleration in late-capitalist societies. Acceleration imposed by language automation disrupts the slow process of meaning construction on which individual and collective decision-making depend. Speed affects all applications of GenAI, but it has been discussed mainly in the field of AI-Art, which is the remit of this paper. It advances the practice of Disobedient Discursive Machines as interactive artworks that use outdated language interfaces to expose the unattainable acceleration imposed by GenAI on humans. This goal is achieved by three adversarial design tactics: Outdated Technologies as Political Design Materials, Temporal Standards as Sites of Contestation, and Frictional Encounters with GenAI. Disobedient Discursive Machines constitute a methodological contribution of AI-art to HCI that goes beyond provocation, toward the articulation of critical insight into the social and political consequences of technological development.