Dis/ordering AI–Human Oversight: Materialities, Aesthetics and Contestability

Abstract

This article aims to dis/order the concept of human oversight as established in Article 14 of the EU AI Act through an alternative ontological lens. By inquiring into the modes of existence of the law and digital objects, we imagine that human oversight can serve as a form of contestation rather than merely as a supervisory mechanism. This reconceptualisation offers a pathway to overcome the alienation between law and technology. This alienation, we argue, is rooted in the law’s alienation from image and the sensorial, resulting in alienation between humans and technological systems. We address this issue by materialising oversight in the form of an artistic project and installation, HUMAN OVERS[A]IGHT: THE OPS ROOM. We propose a shift in perspective – specifically, we suggest that aesthetics, through image and art, can foster critical engagement and open up new avenues for imagining human oversight beyond the legal frameworks currently in place. They can do this by dis/ordering AI–human oversight.