Artist Simon Denny has created a series of portraits for New York Magazine's Power issue, spotlighting 26 engineers, founders and thinkers shaping artificial intelligence. The project focuses on figures whose influence on the field may exceed their public recognition.
Called Technologists Portraits, the works use AI-generated imagery to evoke the fuzzy, saturated look of VHS recordings. Their deliberately dated appearance sets up a contrast between familiar visual nostalgia and the fast-changing technology represented by the people portrayed.
Denny says his work explores the communities behind major shifts in technology. In this series, the visual distortions serve as traces of changes underway and of the people helping bring them about. The project continues the artist's long-running interest in how technology is made, understood and woven into everyday life.
By bringing emerging technology leaders into an artistic frame, the portraits invite audiences to consider who shapes AI--and how those stories become part of the culture around it. Such creative interpretations may help make the forces behind future technologies more visible and approachable.
