Description:

Synthetic Images, Synthetic Minds (SISMi) investigates how generative AI image systems are transforming images from discrete artefacts into cognitive interfaces that couple language, perception and decision-making. Anchored in visual culture, media and communication studies, STS and philosophy of mind, the project shifts attention from individual AI-generated pictures to the model pipelines, datasets and interfaces that structure what can be pictured, imagined and known. It examines how text–image–text loops, everyday prompting practices and platform defaults recalibrate people’s imaginative priors and habits of evaluation – a process the project terms “cognitive hacking” – and develops a framework for “image-thinking” that treats images as active instruments of reasoning rather than passive representations. The project is led by Yanai Toister (PI) at Tampere University’s Visual Studies Lab, alongside Joanna Zylinska at King’s College, University of London (co-PI).

Leader article:

Yanai Toister and Joanna Zylinska. “Image Thinking after Artificial Intelligence”. Journal of Visual Culture 24 no. 3 (2025): 1-21.

Project support: 

Seed support generously provided by the DigiSus platform at Tampere University.