AI Nightmares: Videogames and The Uncanny Valley in Images Generated by Artificial Intelligence
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: What do machine-generated images want?"Imagined" by databases and fueled by underpaid workers (Beiguelman, 2021), the images produced by Artificial Intelligence display, at least for now, peculiar characteristics arising from their machinic calculations: deconstructed and reassembled faces that appear distorted and blurred, with unnaturally elongated smiles, multiplied arms, and deformed hands, often containing an endless number of fingers on unknown appendages (O'Meara and Murphy, 2023).These features bring AIgenerated images closer to what we call "body horror," a long-standing element in horror genre films, video games, illustrations, and photographs, evoking feelings of disgust and strangeness (Santaella and Braga, 2023).When applied to game design, AI-generated content can amplify these unsettling qualities, resulting in distorted and dehumanized aesthetics that align with themes of body horror, the uncanny valley (Banks, 2020) and body dysmorphia.While such designs may evoke strong reactions, the use of AI raises critical concerns about the ethical and creative implications of delegating artistic processes to algorithms.What, then, does the "eye of the machine" see?The gaps it reveals highlight the complexity of subjectivity that permeates images and artistic creationsthe becomings, the materialities, desires, and autonomy embedded within them (Ascott, 2009) (Alloa, 2015).Despite their rapid and remarkable advancements, AIs still often struggle to replicate the depth of human sensitivity, often resulting in limited representations that lack meaning and nuance.The ongoing pursuit to improve these tools reflects a human restlessness that challenges the boundaries of technology and finitude,
Language: English
Topic: Digital Games and Media
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4411974292