Two graduate students from the College of Fine Arts were selected for the 2026 AI Horizons 2.0 – Fronteridades Fellows program, an interdisciplinary initiative led by the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry supporting creative, ethical and community-centered explorations of artificial intelligence in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands.
Alexis Joy Hagestad and Andrés Caballero, both School of Art graduate students, join eight other fellows from across campus in the program’s second cohort. AI Horizons 2.0 builds on the initiative’s inaugural year while sharpening its focus on Fronteridades — examining how AI shapes cultural expression, border governance and social life in the borderlands.
“This cohort brings innovative ideas and culturally grounded perspectives that point toward new futures for emerging technologies and creative inquiry in the borderlands,” said Javier Duran, director of the Confluencenter.
The program aligns with the University of Arizona’s broader commitment to responsible AI, supported by the Office of Responsible AI under Chief AI Officer David Ebert. AI Horizons emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical stewardship and the centering of diverse perspectives in emerging technologies.
Listening to Non-Human Voices
Hagestad’s multimedia project, (Un) Obstructed Migratory Routes, investigates the seasonal migration of the Mexican free-tailed bat and the ecological impacts of border wall construction.
Project Description: “The construction of the border wall significantly obstructs these migratory processes, fragmenting habitats and disrupting navigation due to intense lighting, which contributes to light pollution affecting various wildlife. Through this project, Alexis will use AI to bridge human intent and the needs of non-human species. By utilizing bat echolocation combined with creative coding, Alexis will enable the bats’ echolocation to manipulate photographic elements, allowing them to take a leading role in the image editing process.
“Alexis’ research will be conducted in the San Rafael Valley, a crucial wildlife corridor that remains largely unobstructed but is now facing imminent construction of the border wall. During two trips, Alexis plans to record bat echolocation and capture video and photographs for her project. The outcome will include a multimedia visual project presented in an online gallery, featuring videos and photographic prints that showcase the impact of bat voices on the artistic process. This project will highlight multispecies relationships and the importance of considering voices beyond human experience, using AI to metaphorically translate these voices.”
Turning Surveillance Back on Itself
Caballero’s project, Tracing Lines, will culminate in a 30”x40” photo print that uses computer vision to detect law enforcement officers from online videos of migration protests. When the piece is viewed through a mobile device, the image comes to life revealing a short augmented-reality video.
Project Description: “Andrés will work with online found footage of recent protests, where the government has shown a disproportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrators. Through AI-powered facial recognition, government agencies identify protesters and track them to their homes for questioning and intimidation. This piece responds to the way cameras and machine learning are currently used to sustain a constant state of oppression. Using Python and coding with the help of AI assistants, Andrés will build software that can distinguish civilians from law enforcement officers in web videos sourced from YouTube, social media, and traditional news outlets. Once they are detected, another script will perform a “line tracing,” where it strips away the background and leaves only thin, bright outlines of officers and vehicles. These lines evoke a dystopian image that foregrounds the current sociopolitical landscape of the U.S./Mexico border.”
Caballero’s work builds on his ongoing artistic research into infrastructures that target political dissent in the borderlands. Through AI Horizons, he will further develop open-source tools and workflows that can be shared with other artists and students interested in critically engaging emerging technologies.
At the Intersection of Art and AI
Through a competitive selection process, the Confluencenter identified projects that use creative practice and humanistic inquiry to examine how AI shapes cultural expression and social life in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands.
By centering student-led, interdisciplinary work, AI Horizons 2.0 demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that conversations about artificial intelligence include human values, lived experience, and creative imagination.
Fellows will complete their projects by the end of the spring semester. A public presentation will be shared in the fall.