From Malfunction to Method: Artistic Strategies for Working with GenAI's Limitations

Abstract

Generative AI is rapidly transforming creative practice, yet its limitations (bias, censorship, opacity, instability, and ethical uncertainty) are often treated as flaws to be fixed. Artists, however, have historically worked with the malfunctions of emerging technologies as creative material. Drawing on interviews with 13 contemporary artists, we identify five recurring forms of constraint in GenAI systems and five design orientations artists use to rework them: Exposure (making seams visible), Redirection (working around constraints), Systematisation (making failure repeatable), Practiced Governance (ethical self-regulation), and Scaffolding (designing interpretive contexts for audiences). Instead of hiding seams, artists treat them as resources for reflection, critique, and creative expansion. We frame these practices as forms of seamful and constraint-based design, arguing that artists working at the edge of GenAI systems offer HCI a model for designing with limitations rather than against them.