I recently published an article about poetry in the age of artificial intelligence. In fact, that was the title. The initial idea was to present recent AI generated artwork with the Virgogray Press readers, but as the press is poetry primary, I thought it best to write an article about poetry first (link at the bottom) and then share the AI artwork. Then I thought, I could share them here. There is some mild controversy, I wouldn’t call it dramatic, about the role of AI generated anything in the field of art and creativity. And I do mean all creativity. To get caught in the net, the minutia, of the Hollywood writer’s strike is not only myopic, but telling. Far be it for the writers of Hollywood, all sympathies given, but really? If the other billions of people on this planet can live without a job that requires a dozen or so writers to sit in a boardroom and write jokes for mockingbird comedians and actors, I’m pretty sure so could that minute percentage of conscience existence.

Now, the tone in the poetry article in regard to the writer’s strike was not so abrasive, but it does seem as if though some creators are doing anything and all possible to stave off any sense of validity for artificially intelligently (?gram?mar?) generated work. In the AI poetry article, I stress that AI is on the march and poets may soon be on the run, but at the moment, with the exception of a few examples, AI generally writes terrible poetry. It is intelligent poetry. But is no good. Artwork on the other hand is another story. It is interesting to note as I have been exploring some of the quadrants and pathos of current publishing practice, there are some industries and venues that specifically prohibit the solicitation of AI generated work. Considering the controversy in the academic community amongst teachers and students, it is only ethical to be forward when presenting anything AI generated or assisted. I know I would.

It is with that precursor that I share these artworks with you. What do you think about AI generated work? For various reasons, I for one am not opposed to it but the question is: do you really want to feed the AI?

My, isn’t he debonair? Look into those dark eyes.

It was interesting to me that this would be the first AI generated anything I’d ever create. Let the reader note considering artificial intelligence can create (generate) artwork far superior to anything I’ve yet to create, I struggle referring to this artwork as my own. There are many interesting existential questions that flutter through my mind when I think about the work that is unlocked through artificial intelligence when prompted by my mind. For instance, because I prompt the AI does that mean that I created what is generated? I may be late on the trend of creating a pseudonym for AI generated work. And while I’ve not explored too deep, I can say the artwork I’ve seen is all a marvel and no two are the same. I think what excites me most is the ability to realize my imagination in a visual representation instantaneously. However, one must prompt the AI well if one has a specific vision. That is actually exactly the case with our intense, handsome and, might I add, single AI generated man up above. The vision I saw when I prompted the AI was something much closer to, but nothing like this:

I wanted a close up of dark, intense eyes in grayscale. So, what was the prompt I fed the AI generator?

Close-up, masculine eyes. Dark. Shadows. Semi-Opaque. Photographic.

I might have used another word like pensive. I don’t know why I didn’t just put grayscale. Anyway, the generator was also configured to create a photographic style image. The following two were used with the same prompt except with the generator set to create in a conceptual style. The first conceptual image stunned me because I had prompted the AI to generate a set of masculine eyes and it returned with a single shadowed eye. And by shadowed I mean eyeshadowed. Clearly, AI is androgynous or something. I mean, I get it, once upon a time I wore eyeliner back in high school, but it was never decidedly masculine. Anyway. That’s not the point of the article. The point is, I wanted a set of eyes that viewers from deep inside their primoradial soul would recognize as that of a man’s and I got the heavily make-upped, illuminati eye of a goth dude that probably likes Harry Potter way too much.

The second conceptual image I thought was funny. It reminded me of Batman:

The next set I prompted for AI generation was an image I wanted to create specifically for this website. I prompted the AI generator to create an image with many tree roots. Some of the words prompted included: “multiple tree roots,” “entangled roots,” and “photographic.” I was not specific about how the artificial intelligence was to depict the tree roots and was delighted by the trail. There was a total of three images in this series. The first two images are identical with the second tweaked by yours truly and featured as the header graphic for this website.

In this image, I prompted the AI generator with the same input, but added “in the style of a charcoal drawing.” I very much liked the outcome and decided to use it as my cover photo on my X-Twitter account (link at bottom).

The final image I’ll share was part of a series that just about knocked me off my seat and I thought would test AI’s ability to create something unique. It blew my mind. Again, with poetry there are specifications in AI generated writing that I’m looking for in order to distinguish itself from the best verse ever penned. The likeliness AI will generate a new form that humanity has never seen and changes the course of our writing? Not yet anyway. But now AI knows the desired criteria. In the field of visual art, I understand the expectation is not as high because artificial intelligence actually may produce something we’ve never seen before. A quick search of any AI artwork will prove this. Even a discerning viewer, I believe, would find something of interest.

The following image was generated using words like “Prometheus,” “Fire,” “oil painting” and “Freemason.” I was curious! The resulting AI creation was astounding. I used the graphic as a header for Byron’s “Prometheus,” also published on this website. There are six images in this series, some are far scarier than this. I’ll share them soon.

As stated above, in the field of visual artwork it is easy to understand the controversy and hostility against artificially intelligent generated material. I can understand the insecurities that may well up around AI artwork, too. I painted a lot back in the day, and even though I think I was decent at it, I never created anything complex and graphic like “Prometheus” or as poignantly detailed as the “roots” series. Ultimately, I think it will boil down to how it is used, presented and disclosed. What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you favor, create or use artificial intelligence in any of your creative endeavors? If you enjoyed this article and the artwork presented, you may look forward to future posts. Thanks for reading.

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Related Links:

Poetry in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
“Prometheus” by G.G. Byron
Official X-Twitter