Bonus A to Z: AI Art

Much of the art for my A to Z challenge has been generated by "AI."

This is commonly called Generative AI, or GenAI. How it works is well understood. Some great primers on AI art are below and I highly recommend taking a look at them. If for nothing else than to dispel the fear, uncertainty, and doubt generated by the hype cycle.

As a professional software engineer with almost 40 years using computers—we had an Apple IIc in my high school—I can say this without being too dismissive.

GenAI is a sophisticated random number machine with a lot of dials to "dial in" a result.

Take many, no... all, of the images I've used in the A to Z challenge. I provide a "prompt" and the "machine" sort of reverse engineers key words and phrases to get to the result. I often have to refine, add, subtract, and "punch" the prompt for what I'm after, and I often have to settle. But I'm also artistically inclined, so what might look awesome to the casual visitor of Coffee, Code, and Chronicles is more than likely me telling the AI, "You got it wrong, but this is sorta what I was after and I don’t have all day or the money to keep doing this. Thanks…?"

Take the prompt I used initially for A is for Amoebae. Here is how it started:

A body of glistening goo, not unlike a jelly-fish washed ashore, sits at the edge of a deciduous swamp. Dark. Foreboding.  

Here is the prompt that resulted in the image I used, of which I was mostly happy, mostly:

A shapeless form of glistening, clear, and pale yellow goo, like that of the flattened body of a large jellyfish, washed ashore at the edge of a deciduous swamp. Within the goo are remains of an animal. Dark. Foreboding.  

What is missing from the image? "...remains of an animal." Why? Probably because of specific "guardrails" programmed into the machine. If a "machine" can be told what not to generate, a machine can be told what to generate and is therefore not independent or sentient. It's how you end up with black soldiers in WWII Wehrmacht uniforms, never mind the politics.

Art though is a weird space for me and I struggle as one that can draw, but lacks regular practice. I'm a dilettante in art so can't be trusted. But it's my own dial that makes my art feel natural. In all I support the idea of "poisoning the AI machine" for art and artists.

Want to know more?

How to poison the AI machine (Highly recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you're a creative!)

How AI Image Generators Work (Stable Diffusion / Dall-E) - Computerphile


Comments

  1. KristinMay 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM

    I should look into this, just to see what I can make them come up with.

    ReplyDelete

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