Dreaming Digital: Mapping the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and the Arts

This paper examines how artificial intelligence is entering artistic practice and cultural production across Africa and the Middle East. Positioned as a state-of-play analysis, it maps current uses, constraints, and emerging trajectories rather than proposing a prescriptive framework. Drawing on qualitative research including field observation at Dream City 2025 in Tunis and interviews with artists, curators, and cultural practitioners, the study situates AI within its socio-technical conditions: uneven connectivity, limited access to computational resources, fragmented tool ecosystems, and persistent linguistic asymmetries.

The analysis identifies three structural dynamics shaping AI engagement in the arts. First, material constraints such as bandwidth instability and hardware costs define the practical horizon of experimentation, privileging lightweight and cloud-based workflows. Second, linguistic inequality, particularly the dominance of English and limited support for Arabic dialects and African languages, introduces creative friction that reshapes artistic expression itself. Third, economic and legal uncertainties, including precarious labor conditions, opaque authorship regimes, and unresolved data governance questions, reconfigure the terms under which artists produce and circulate work.

Despite these constraints, artists and grassroots initiatives across the region are actively appropriating AI as a material, instrument, and site of critique. Practices range from localized dataset creation and language-focused model development to experimental uses of AI in sound, image, and cinematic production. These efforts suggest a shift from passive adoption toward situated, context-aware engagement.

By grounding AI within lived artistic workflows and institutional realities, the paper contributes to emerging literature on AI and culture from the Global South. It offers a structured account of how technological systems intersect with cultural ecosystems under conditions of asymmetry, and identifies key gaps for future research, particularly in language, infrastructure, and long-term artistic trajectories.