Nick Axel and Daniele Balleri have written a reply to this article. The 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, organized by MIT professor Carlo Ratti under the theme “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.,” features A.I.-generated summaries alongside traditional wall texts for each exhibit. These two-sentence distillations, labeled “A.I. Summary,” are designed to help visitors quickly grasp core ideas and choose their pace through the dense show. An example is Beatriz Colomina, Roberto Kolter, Patricia Urquiola, Geoffrey West, and Mark Wigley's installation *The Other Side of the Hill*, whose 200-word wall text is condensed into a succinct A.I. summary about microbial intelligence and demographic collapse.
This development matters because it reflects a broader tension in the art world over the role of generative A.I. in interpretation and curation. While some critics, like curator Phineas Harper, question why curators couldn't simply write short captions themselves, the summaries have proven popular with visitors, including editor Ellie Stathaki. However, the article argues that the very presence of an “A.I. Summary” in a show about cutting-edge innovation is a mystification that should be critically unpacked, especially given the rapid and consequential decisions being made about generative A.I. technology.