Sunday 29 March saw the delivery of a public Art and Science Creative Workshop at Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre, Bangor. This hands-on session brought together creativity, technology, and nature, inviting young participants and their families to explore how artificial intelligence works through the theme of birds.
Led by Katie Roberts-Tyler and Professor Jonathan Roberts as part of the Get into AI project, the workshop combined drawing, sound, movement, and making to demystify machine learning in an engaging and accessible way.
Exploring Birds Through Art and AI
The workshop focused on two distinctive birds, the oystercatcher and the puffin. Participants were encouraged to carefully observe their shape and form before sketching their own interpretations. These drawings were then used to train a simple machine learning model using Google’s Teachable Machine. By testing the system with new sketches, the group explored how AI recognises patterns and categories, discovering both its strengths and its limitations.
The workshop extended beyond visuals into sound and movement. First through sound recognition, where participants created bird-like calls, including cuckoo sounds, and trained the system to recognise them in real time. And second through pose recognition, where participants used their bodies to mimic bird-like poses, exploring how AI can interpret human movement.
These activities helped participants understand that AI does not "see" or "hear" in the same way humans do, but instead detects patterns in data.
From Data to Making
The workshop also included a tactile, creative element. Participants used paper folding techniques to create bird-inspired sculptures, including blackbirds, connecting digital exploration back to physical making.
Lizzy, one of the young participants, reflected:
I really enjoyed the day. I specifically enjoyed being asked questions and then expanding on them. I enjoyed paper folding and making the blackbirds. It was a fun day.
Professor Roberts, who leads the Get into AI project, highlighted the value of the approach:
It’s fantastic to see young people engaging with AI in such a creative and hands-on way. By combining sketching, sound, and movement, the workshop helps make machine learning more understandable and relevant. Exploring birds provides a rich and accessible way to think about how AI can be applied to understanding the natural world.
This workshop forms part of the initiative, which aims to encourage young people and families to explore the possibilities of artificial intelligence. By grounding complex ideas in creative activities and real-world examples, the project helps demystify AI and inspire curiosity about its applications.
