Of Other Spaces – Foucaults Heterotopia in Times of AI
Author: Isis Hazewindus
AI-solutions have been in use for multiple decades, but it wasn’t until OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022 that the permeation of (generative) AI into our lives truly hit us. AI, short for Artificial Intelligence, is everywhere, from our search engines to our viewing recommendations and from algorithms that detect fraud to generative tools that re-shape the way we look at our creativity. In short, AI encompasses all types of “intelligence”. This increasing invasion of AI applications in society might turn more and more places into weird “other spaces”, or heterotopias, a space first described by Michel Foucault (1926-1984) during a lecture given to a group of architects in 1967. But what is a heterotopia and what does it have to do with AI?
The concept of the heterotopia is derived from the idea of the utopia, but unlike the utopia, which describes a non-existing (and ultimately “ideal”) place, the heterotopia is a space actually existing within our society, but outside it, somehow disturbing or upsetting what is outside of them. Foucault describes two types of heterotopias, namely the heterotopia of crisis and the heterotopia of deviation. Heterotopias of crisis are privileged, sacred or forbidden places, whilst heterotopias of deviation are spaces where we place that which deviates from our norms. Both, however, function as places containing that which would somehow upset or disturb the world without, such as menstruating women or the mentally ill.
Even though heterotopias can be tangible places, such as cemeteries or boarding schools, one of the most striking examples of a heterotopia Foucault mentions is the mirror. In the mirror, you will find yourself and the space you occupy presenting itself to you - there, but not there. The space in the mirror is there, perceivable, but simultaneously this space is a virtual space, unreachable behind the shiny, smooth glass .
In a sense, AI conjures heterotopias similar to the one we recognise in the mirror. The extreme use of algorithms in a desperate attempt to capture, calculate and conjecture every aspect of life constitutes a place imagined in the digital world, that we think accessible but is, in reality, as much in reach to us as the space within the mirror. It also contrasts with our world in that it is seemingly perfect and well-construed, promising a world wherein everything goes smooth and can be tweaked to fit our every desire and need. On top of that, Foucault describes heterotopias as places that are not freely accessible. Gaining access to them requires either coercion or the requirement to submit oneself to certain rites or purifications before gaining permission to enter. It is mainly the first condition that can be recognised in AI applications, as individual users seem to have little or no control over the ways their data is used to create the digital heterotopias dictating what we should watch, eat, or whether we are eligible for benefits or loans.
The more we let our lives be dictated by these algorithms and applications, the closer we get to some absurd reversal of worlds. Instead of the heterotopia being the other space, the other space might become our analog world to which we “condemn” the people that are unable or unwilling to let their lives be modelled by a technology as slippery and cold as the mirrors in our bathrooms.
Photo credit: Michael Milverton via Unsplash