Project D33pthr0at: DIY Small AI for your (Censored) Community
Project D33pthr0at was an artist residency under the Small AI research project. Artists Gabriella Garcia and Arnab Chakravarty set out to explore how Small AI could serve communities that are currently censored, misrepresented, or otherwise excluded from Big AI applications.
Building on Gabriella’s work with the now sunsetted Decoding Stigma, they set out to create a Small AI agent that could serve as a peer-reviewed resource for sex workers. Along the way they uncovered more questions than answers.
Helpfully, they've documented both the promise and limitations of locally-run AI models, creating a practical tutorial so that others might build upon their work and bring us closer to a world in marginalized communities can freely to experiment with and build AI applications on their own terms, free from corporate surveillance and content restrictions.
[TEAM]
MAKE YOUR OWN SMALL AI
…and by Small AI, we mean locally-run AI, but we'll dive deeper into that in this tutorial.In December 2024, Project d33pthr0at artists Gabriella and Arnab, along with Ploipailin Flynn from AIxDESIGN, hosted the Make-your-own Small AI workshop. 50 people across the internet joined to learn:
🤍 When and why Small AI might work better than Big AI;
🤍 How to choose + download the foundation model that’s right for you (text-only for now);
🤍 How to install the model on your local device;
🤍 How to launch and use the model within your Terminal.
By the end of the workshop, you should have an AI model running locally on your device free from Big Tech's gaze.
DIY WALK-THROUGH
Besides the video recording, the tutorial has been visually documented on a Miro board for you to follow along.
Questions? Concerns? Need help troubleshooting? Join the conversation on the AIxD Slack #diy-small-ai.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
🌚 About Gabriella Garcia
Gabriella Garcia is a creative researcher with over a decade of experience of sharing stories about networked subcultures and technologically-enabled intimacy. She is currently developing a practice that uses speculative fiction and magical realism to gather sex workers together over designing futures toward potential real-world solutions. Between 2020-’24 she directed Decoding Stigma, a collective prioritizing erotic labor as a necessary ethics question for futurists. Her expanded practice includes techno-feminist research, community-centered archiving, multimedia performance art, and poetic technology. As a performance artist, Gabriella works to create spaces ruled by vulnerability.
🌝 About Arnab Chakravarty
Arnab is a designer and creative technologist with a passion for building what he designs. He holds a Master’s degree from ITP, NYU, where he was an Accessibility Researcher at NYU’s Ability Lab and an Artist-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University. Currently, he is developing a game that explores the human impact of AI as part of his Creative Media Award from the Mozilla Foundation. Arnab is also the technical director of Broken Ghost Immersives, a theater collective blending immersive theater, escape rooms, and games, with his work showcased at prestigious venues like the India Art Fair and Kochi Biennale.
WANT TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF SMALL AI AGENTS?
Come make your own at the AIxD Festival!
What You'll Learn:
🤍 The benefits of Small AI vs. large-scale cloud models
🤍 How to select the right foundation model for your needs
🤍 Step-by-step installation process for running AI locally