The rhizome as a cartographic model for the study of the implications of generative artificial intelligence in digital drawing
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Published
2026-07-14
Javier Corzo Martínez
Manuel Drago Díaz Alemán
Jorge de la Torre Cantero
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2013-5899
Manuel Drago Díaz Alemán
Jorge de la Torre Cantero
Abstract
The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligences (GenAIs) has marked a turning point in the practice of digital drawing. To study this phenomenon, the development of a cartographic tool has been undertaken to grasp its complexity. This work begins with a non-exhaustive historical overview of different types of node-link diagrams, from medieval tree diagrams to conceptual diagrams, in order to demonstrate that traditional systems are too rigid to address such a constantly evolving subject of study. For this reason, a rhizomatic cartography is proposed as a methodological tool capable of adapting to the continuous changes and evolution implied by the use of GenAIs in digital drawing. Based on the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, an open and mutable map is proposed, created using the Miro® software and organized into three blocks: «Creativity, agency and AI», «Philosophy of art, authorship and AI», and «Drawing and AI». This structure enables the free interconnection of ideas across seemingly disparate fields such as art, philosophy, technological advances, and their impact on the labor market for illustrators.
How to Cite
Corzo Martínez, Javier, Manuel Drago Díaz Alemán, and Jorge de la Torre Cantero. 2026. “The Rhizome As a Cartographic Model for the Study of the Implications of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Digital Drawing”. AusArt 14 (2). https://doi.org/10.1387/ausart.28416.
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Keywords
MAP, RHIZOME, DIGITAL DRAWING, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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Benjamin, Walter. (1936) 2009. «La obra de arte en la época de su reproductibilidad técnica». En Estética y política, traductores Tomás Joaquín Bartoletti & Julián Fava; prefacio Ralph Buchenhorst. Buenos Aires: Las Cuarenta
Biggs, Norman L., E. Keith Lloyd & Robin J. Wilson. 1976. Graph theory 1736-1936. Oxford: Oxford University
Boden, Margaret A. 1998. «Creativity and artificial intelligence». Artificial Intelligence 103: 347-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0004-3702(98)00055-1
Canavese, Abigail, Nathaniel Tze Kai Tan & Chris Wren. 2024. «2024 insights on external development for the video game industry». XDS Summit. https://n9.cl/8md0e External Development Summit
Cañas, Alberto J., Joseph D. Novak & Priit Reiska. 2015. «How good is my concept map? Am I a good cmapper?». Knowledge Management & E-Learning 7(1): 6-19. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2015.07.002
Deleuze, Gilles & Félix Guattari. (1980) 2004. Mil mesetas: Capitalismo y esquizofrenia. Traducido por J. Vázquez Pérez. Valencia: Pre-Textos
Dufour, Adrian. 2014. «El cuadrado ontológico: Teoría e iconografía». Anuario Filosófico 47(2): 297-312. https://doi.org/10.15581/009.47.810
Eppler, Martin J. 2006. «A comparison between concept maps, mind maps, conceptual diagrams, and visual metaphors as complementary tools for knowledge construction and sharing». Information Visualization 5: 202-210, https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ivs.9500131
Erdem, Aliye. 2017. «Mind maps as a lifelong learning tool». Universal Journal of Educational Research 5(12A): 1-7. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2017.051301
Helliwell, Alice C. 2026. «Creativity, agency, and AI». En Philosophy of artificial intelligence: The state of the art, edited by Vincent C. Müller, Leonard Dung, Guido Löhr & Aliya Rumana. Berlin: Springer Nature
Jiang, Harry H., Lauren Brown, Jessica Cheng, Mehtab Khan, Abhishek Gupta, Deja Workman, Alex Hanna, Johnathan Flowers & Timnit Gebru. 2023. «AI art and its impact on artists». En Proceedings of the 2023 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 363-374. https://doi.org/10.1145/3600211.3604681
Kawakami, Reishiro & Sukrit Venkatagiri. 2024. «The impact of generative AI on artists». En Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Creativity & Cognition, 79-82. https://doi.org/10.1145/3635636.3664263
Kinchin, Ian M. & Karen Gravett. 2020. «Concept mapping in the age of Deleuze: Fresh perspectives and new challenges». Education Sciences 10(3): 82. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10030082
Manovich, Lev & Emanuele Arielli. 2024. Artificial aesthetics: Generative AI, art and visual media. Manovich.net. https://manovich.net/index.php/projects/artificial-aesthetics
Novak, Joseph D. & Alberto J. Cañas. 2006. «The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct them». Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition 1(1): 1-31. https://cmap.ihmc.us/publications/researchpapers/theoryunderlyingconceptmaps.pdf
Porquet, Julien, Sitong Wang & Lydia B. Chilton. 2025. «Copying style, extracting value: Illustrators’ perception of AI style transfer and its impact on creative labor». En Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713854
Schuhmann, Christoph et al. 2022. «LAION-5B: An open large-scale dataset for training next generation image-text models». Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 35: 25278-25294. https://doi.org/10.52202/068431-1833
Simonton, Dean Keith. 1999. «Creativity as blind variation and selective retention: Is the creative process Darwinian?». Psychological Inquiry 10(3): 309-328. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1004_4
Valero Hoyo, Vanesa. 2023. «El mapa en el arte contemporáneo, el arte contemporáneo en el mapa: Viaje al recorrido, al caminar, de la geografía al individuo, del exterior al interior». Tesis Univ. Politècnica de València
Verboon, Annemieke R. 2014. «The medieval tree of porphyry: An organic structure of logic». En The tree: Symbol, allegory, and mnemonic device in medieval art and thought, edited by Pippa Salonius & Andrea Worm, 95-116. Turnhout: Brepols. https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.102023
Vimpari, Veera, Annakaisa Kultima, Perttu Hämäläinen & Christian Guckelsberger. 2023. «‘An adapt-or-die type of situation’: Perception, adoption, and use of text-to-image-generation AI by game industry professionals». Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 7(CHI PLAY): 131-164. https://doi.org/10.1145/3611025
Weingart, Scott B. 2013. «From trees to webs: Uprooting knowledge through visualization». En Classification & visualization: Interfaces to knowledge; Proceedings of the International UDC Seminar 24-25 October 2013 the Hague, the Netherlands, edited by Aida Slavic, Sylvie Davies & Almila Akdag Salah, 43-58. Baden-Baden: Nomos
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