© 2025 AIxDesign
© 2025 AIxDesign
© 2025 AIxDesign
Small AI
Small AI
Introduction
Small AI questions the scale-driven, inhuman narratives that dominate the AI landscape today. Inspired by notions of fractals, friction and fragmented-ness in nature, it highlights the value of localized, small-scale approaches that prioritize people, environments, and nuanced processes over abstract, endless optimization.
Timeline
March 2024 - February 2025
Team
Research Lead
Nadia Nadesan
Artist
Gabriella Garcia
Arnab Chakravarty
Communications
Dominika Čupková
Elena Zaghis
Communications Support
Shweta Bindu Allam
Calligramme Artist
Ana Marques
Team
Nadia Piet
Ploipailin Flynn
Sofia Vieira
Zine Partner
Internet Teapot
Graphic Designer
Kaashvi Kothari
Funding
Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
Introduction
Small AI questions the scale-driven, inhuman narratives that dominate the AI landscape today. Inspired by notions of fractals, friction and fragmented-ness in nature, it highlights the value of localized, small-scale approaches that prioritize people, environments, and nuanced processes over abstract, endless optimization.
Timeline
March 2024 - February 2025
Team
Research Lead
Nadia Nadesan
Artist
Gabriella Garcia
Arnab Chakravarty
Communications
Dominika Čupková
Elena Zaghis
Communications Support
Shweta Bindu Allam
Calligramme Artist
Ana Marques
Team
Nadia Piet
Ploipailin Flynn
Sofia Vieira
Zine Partner
Internet Teapot
Graphic Designer
Kaashvi Kothari
Funding
Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
What we made
What could we make with AI if scale wasn't an objective?
The Small AI chapter invites us to rethink AI not as something floating in “the cloud,” but as deeply entangled with land, ecologies, and people — showing how technology can prioritize community value in design and governance. From artists building their personal AI models to citizen scientists preserving marginalized languages, the chapter highlights the power of small-scale approaches to protecting cultural heritage and supporting ecological resilience.
AI for Ants - A zine about Small AI made in collaboration with Internet Teapot
This zine compiles the creative contributions, exchanges, and discussions from the Small AI Zine-making Workshop held on July 21, 2024, in Amsterdam. Together, we investigated different notions of Small AI, drawing inspiration from the degrowth movement, post-developmental theory, climate justice, low-tech, and our shared knowledge and experiences.
Make your own Small AI - Project D33pthr0at
Project D33pthr0at by Gabriella Garcia & Arnab Chakravarty explored the practical possibilities of applied Small AI, with a specific focus on creating resources for sex workers facing censorship and misrepresentation in mainstream AI platforms. This residency investigated critical socio-technical questions that are often overlooked in AI development.
Conversation on Small AI
As part of Small AI research led by Nadia Nadesan, we turned to the design and research practices of Linda Dounia Rebeiz and Vera van der Burg. Together, we explored AI's potential as a tool for introspection and critical reflection. How does AI shift in shape and form when infused with unique subjective realities?
