Critical Archival Futures: Artist-led Innovation in Generative AI and the Global South

This study explores artist-led innovation in generative AI, focusing on the Global South and its diasporas. It presents frameworks and use cases informed by critical archival practices. By examining three artistic projects connected to the MENA region and Africa, the study demonstrates how these examples challenge the hegemonic biases embedded in generative AI, shift power dynamics, and address inequalities rooted in colonial legacies and North-to-South knowledge production. Through these artworks, this paper proposes frameworks that leverage both the archival and future-oriented capabilities of generative AI to explore digital artifact creation and abstraction, reimagining the relationship between archives, data, and potential futures.