Teaching AI as Creative Practice: DataX Hosts Precollege Summer Institute

As a hub for interdisciplinary, data-centric activity, DataX is a resource for researchers, instructors, and creators across the UCLA campus. Our partnership with Social Software enabled the AI, Code, & Art Summer Institute (the Institute) to meet in the new DataX classroom space in Murphy Hall.

Intended to examine the social impact and possibilities of “making” with software, the four-week Institute brought high school students together to learn technical skills while grappling with the social and ethical considerations of technology for creative use.

Co-led by software artists Lauren Lee McCarthy and Casey Reas, Social Software is housed in UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts, where both are professors. The department is a nationally recognized program offering a comprehensive, multidisciplinary education in media creation that supports individual exploration, innovation, and collaboration. 

“We were thrilled to partner with DataX on the Summer Institute,” said McCarthy. “The program gave students a way to see code and AI not just as tools, but also as materials for expression.” 

McCarthy added that “students explored how making with software can be both personal and political, creating projects that reimagined technology and data as shared creative ground.”

Meet the Artist-Instructors

Interdisciplinary artist-instructors brought their unique perspectives to the Institute. Aurora Mititelu (DMA ’24), who taught the AI & Art track, is a Fulbright Scholar and 3D artist who also coordinated the program. Chelly Jin, a current UCLA M.F.A. student, new-media artist and designer, taught the Code & Art track. 

The monthlong Institute culminated in an exhibition of the cohort's portfolio-ready work, viewable on the program website.