AI&Creativity: BigGAN as a creative engine
Truly, the year 2018 can be called the begin of the real creativity made with/by Artificial Intelligence.
Sure, the whole story begun earlier, Google Deep Dream was already a continuation of human attempts to use a machine for art.
With development of #AI the production of art by the digital entities became fully new form — in interim state between author and tool.
The attempts, for use of Artificial Intelligence in the art world became in the Summer 2018 controversially prominent, as an artist collective Obvious has sold an AI generated work at Christie’s (with some crucial copyright issues).
2018 also made BigGAN (GAN = Generative Adversarial Networks)popular. Let’s take a closer look of this auspicious development.
Researches, programmers, artists are working based on Deep Learning using TensorFlow (open-source software library for dataflow programming by Google, practical for Deep Learning) and trying to let the Neural Networks visualize the world view of Artificial Intelligence.
The best thing is, Google provides with Collaborative Research the interactive possibility for everyone to try out and to experiment with BigGAN.
In my series “AI & Creativity” I want to observe with you the newest tendencies, try out new tools and present the #AI artists.
I have to admit, there is a backfill I have to catch up, since the things are developing so rapidely. There is still a lot to show!
Today: BigGAN as #AI image generator
You can install the TensorFlow and other components on your local drive (with some know-how and workarounds). But there is also Notebook where you can play around with the system, even if you aren’t #AI specialist. Here is the basic BigGAN TensorFlow Notebook to start with.
The use is easy:
- Run every cell by clicking on [>] sign.
- Test the default settings.
- Try out what you want (don’t worry, you won’t break the internet).
In the “Category” you will find a diverse motifs and objects which can be generated by BigGAN.
Here is what BigGAN understands under “Valley”:
Not bad. Besides of some weird artifacts one could believe, it were just another mountain vista, being catched with a photo camera.
The system is trained on huge amounts of labelled visual data — so also on a great variety of many nature photos. The images above look photorealistic, even if they are entirely generated by Deep Learned neural networks.
So let’s dig deeper.
409) Analog clock
Already here the system fails on details. We can literally see it’s trying to deliver it’s concept of the asked object: “roundish”, “with arrows”, “with numbers”. It doesn’t simulate though, because in case of simulation the numbers would be correctly depicted, imho.
There are clear parallels between attempts of AI to interpret the world and the Theory of Forms/Ideas by Plato:
Ideas or Forms were meta-physical essences of the material things. The material things weren’t originals, but just imitations of the Ideas/Forms.
So in this case the objects we humans know and the visions of recognized entities by AI are equivalent. They are only endeavors to cover the Ideas. What do you think about it?
549) Envelope
Well, the results look rather like a drawing or a post card than just an envelope. (Some complications during labeling by humans, probably). But here we see AI trying to depict human creativity. Writings. Doodles. Texts we can for a second recognize as a text, but in the next moment they just slip away like a book title seen in a dream. Our brain is working intensely to comprehend the vision.
And so let’s confuse our brain even more with a generated image.
917) Comic Book
You clearly see the Topoi of a comic book: super hero figures (colors resembles on Superman), big catchy letters on the cover. A comic shop (a pretty devastated one, though). A wall with comic posters on it.
This is not just a simulation of what comic should look like. It’s a clear attempt of an Artificial Intelligence to visualize the understanding of the Idea and Form of the entity “comic”. Call me esoteric if you want, but I see here way more than just a product of bites and bytes. It’s an urge to understand the world out there.
The Basic BigGAN tool allows another weirdness, but let’s look at it in our next post. See you!
My series “AI&Creativity” will be continued!
This article is published in Data Driven Investor.