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Texting statues, trying to get robots to smile and watching a deepfake of Elvis swivel his hips – these are just a few ways that hundreds of visitors have been interacting with AI in Leicester over the past few months.  

The has just ended after 10 months of interactive entertainment, events and exhibitions that have been taking place all over the city. 

Now, as organisers look to plan the fourth annual festival, they want to get visitors' feedback on the recent events programme.

They are asking people who attended an event or saw any of the creative AI exhibitions in Leicester to . All survey entries will be entered into a competition to win gift cards from BID Leicester that are redeemable in some of the city’s best independent venues and shops. 

Tracy Harwood, Professor of Digital Culture, said: “This year’s Art AI Festival has been our biggest yet. We’ve run events from May 2021 to last month and we’d love to hear from people what they have seen and what they think of the festival, and any ideas for things they’d like to see in our next festival which will also be exploring how AI can be sustainable.” 

Professor Harwood has worked with some of the world’s biggest AI artists to bring the festival to the city, as well as partners including Highcross, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester Haymarket, Leicester City Council and LCB Depot.  

Featured artists in the 2021 programme include Alexander Mordvintsev who invented Google’s DeepDream algorithm which has become a key milestone in the development of creative applications of artificial intelligence. Creative AI artworks and installations have been shown across Leicester since May 2021. The Cities Tango and ArchXtonic installations of digital art have also been running simultaneously in Leicester and at the Expo 2020 Dubai, which ended on March 31.   

This year, the Art AI Festival was invited to be part of a network of the UK’s top science festivals. The UK Science Festivals Network Association is run by the British Science Association, supported by the UK Research and Innovation and Wellcome Trust. It exists to promote science and help festivals gain new audiences by showcasing some of the best work happening today.