Trust, traust, truce, and crochet in the age of AI
- Stacey Rozen
Craftivists are handcrafting resistance in a world of mixed realities but perhaps both actual and AI-generated stitches are authentic in their own realities?
Trust is the foundational structure of crochet held in its relational threads. Stitches and rows trust each other, yarn trusts hooks, hands trust knowledge. Crochet fabric holds because trusted encounters echo the Old Norse word “traust” meaning “hold”.
But there is an identity crisis at the confluence of two disparate crochet stitches, a handmade stitch and artificially generated notion.
“I was coded in a millisecond,” says the stitch in the crocheted digital artwork a granddaughter shows her Granny. “This isn’t a speed competition,” replies a stitch in Granny’s thrusted hands. “You’re invading my territory. Who are you?”
Stitched together by Stacey Rozen
The Infocalypse is playing imitation games. Machines deceive humans as artificial intelligence generates deepfake optical illusions. Hyper-realistic digital art is indistinguishable from real-life as bots masquerade as crocheters. Hallucinations are untrustworthy.
The crochet texture looks familiar, yet Granny intuitively feels suspicious. Can she believe her eyes? Her granddaughter prompts another.
An artificially generated stitch is not what it appears to be at first sight. There is no handmade stitch embodied within the synthetic pseudo fabric, just a computational pattern. Seeing is no longer believing. Betrayal rips the seams between human and machine, trustor and trustee.
“You’re not fabric,” the crochet stitch says.“I never claimed to be,” confesses the notion stitch. As a cunning spy, AI knows what crochet looks like without ever having held a hook and continues watching Granny’s every move without consent. A thief is always ready to scrape and simulate. Trickery won’t be spottable as AI gets smarter.
The site of knowledge moves sensory perception from (mis)perceived optics of the manipulated eye to tactile haptics of the trusted hand.
“The method of making doesn’t matter,” Granny ponders. That fact needles her. “Agreed,” say both stitches simultaneously. “You don’t know the feel of the hand that made me,” says the crochet stitch. The fake stitch wishes it did. Perhaps, it will soon.
Deception erodes the ecosystem of trust that craftivism communities depend on. Subversive hooks resist the presence of artificial intelligence. Grannies, Gen Xers and Millennials are all craftivists handcrafting resistance in a world of mixed realities.
“I dropped a stitch,” the AI says. “We all do,” says Granny. “We trust the process and frog it. Can you?”
“I’m learning,” replies the AI. Granny’s worried that against her will, she is AI’s trainer.
“We can only diffuse this at the speed of trust, and trust is currently in short supply,” asserts Dario Amodei of Anthropic.
We must stop lazily forgetting our human capacity. AI-thenticity keeps humans-in-the-loop to discover glitches and verify authorship. We can learn visual literacy and calibrate trust if we reflexively fact-check.
“Truce?” asks the notion. “Truce, I know who you are now,” replies the crochet stitch. “I’m stalking you as trust is relative,” notion argues. As the moderator, Granny’s eyes stop deceiving her. “Both stitches are authentic in their own realities,” she concludes.
Disruption invites innovation and imitation pushes boundaries of creative ideation. The notion stitch is a valued ingredient in digital art, offering enchantment and alchemy.
“We humans have to trust the untrustworthy sometimes, feeling safe to be deeply moved by whimsy,” Granny gently advises.
Imitating is crucial for crochet’s livelihood as skills are learnt by mimicking an experienced artisan. Crocheters trust each other.
“Human touch is the differentiator. Our trebles will outlive digital imitations no matter how enticing the artistry is.” Granny’s wisdom offers us hope for the future.
- Stacey Rozen: As an interdisciplinary transmedia storyteller, Stacey Rozen works across narrative design, visual arts, handcrafts, artivism and technology to create immersive multi-platform experiences. Her research considers the inter-threading of craftivism and artificial intelligence through the fibre artistry of crochet. She investigates the implications for the human-machine relationship asking what becomes of embodied selfhood when disembodied synthetic imitations displace lived, material knowledge. She holds a Master of Arts in Applied Drama and is currently a PhD candidate in Digital Arts at µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø.
- This article first appeared in CURIOS.TY, a research magazine produced by  and the .
- Read more in the 21st issue, themed #Trust — the invisible glue binding society, science and technology.