AI ART GENERATORS, TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, AND DIGITAL ART
How Do AI Art Generators Create Original Artwork?
Can Machines Create Art That Is Truly Unique and Original?
For tons of advice from myself and others, visit the Jasper Facebook group!
Artificial intelligence has been making huge strides, with some remarkable applications in areas like image recognition and machine learning. But what about AI art? Can machines create artwork that is truly unique and original?
Some people may be skeptical, but the truth is that AI art generators are already creating some stunning pieces. How do they do it?
Well, it’s a process that is a little bit complicated, but I’ll try to explain it as simply as I can— and I’ll illustrate it with unedited AI art:
The Process of AI Art Generation
First, the text description is ‘mapped’ onto a representational space (think of it as a conceptual canvas; it doesn’t exist anywhere). Then your text is compared with massive amounts of captions and Alt Text for collated images that correspond to the semantic elements in the prompt text.
All this information has been encoded; it’s no longer the original in any form. Think of this like compost; once it’s all decomposed and disintegrated, you can’t tell any one leaf from any other. Or like coke bottles in a recycling plant.
Next, it goes through a diffusion process (yes, like in thermodynamics) that adds noise and then reduces it, effectively decomposing the images in pure Gaussian noise. This is the messy part.
The AI generator then reverse engineers from this slush and overlays it onto the initial representational mapping from the text description. The decoder stochastically reassembles these embeddings into something recognisable.
Finally, it uses additional textual information to assess whether what it assembled is semantically consistent with the input
(“Does this look like what the user asked it to look like?”).
The variations in this reassembling process mean that not only is the image not an exact reconstruction of the source material but also that you never get the same image twice.
So the output is entirely original, in terms of both content and form.
And since the generator is completely offsite, you don’t need any expensive software or hardware. All you need is a computer with an internet connection.
How AI Art Generators Work (or, “Seeing The Forest for the Trees”)
The best way I can describe it is to imagine you want a one-of-a-kind, custom-made table. Now think of a forest. Cut down all those trees and put them in a woodchipper. Take all the tiny pieces of bark and sawdust and reassemble them within a rough outline of tree (like the world’s hardest jigsaw).
Now cut that tree down. Chop it into wood and then make the planks that somewhat resemble an Ikea table. Check the instructions and put the table together. Congratulations, you’ve just constructed a custom-made table.
Now, the difference is that with AI, you don’t have to do any of the work. The machine does all the heavy lifting for you, and the end result is a completely original piece of artwork that is unlike anything that has ever been created before, while still being based on a prompt or concept you provided.
It’s imaginative but simulates reality just enough to look believable. And it’s not limited to 2D images; you can generate 3d models, or even photographs.
Why AI Art Generators Are so Cool
Art has always been about originality; about taking something that exists and looking at it in a new way. And that’s exactly what AI art generators are doing.
They’re taking the building blocks of images and recombining them in ways that have never been seen before. And the results can be absolutely breathtaking. One even just won first prize at the Colorado State Fair.
So if you’re ever feeling stuck creatively, don’t be afraid to give AI a try. You might be surprised at how they create beautiful and one-of-a-kind pieces.
Where can I try an AI art generator?
If you want to see it for yourself, there are a few AI art generators that you can experiment with yourself, like DALL-E, Craiyon, and Midjourney AI.
I recommend Jasper Art. Not only is Jasper AI a great AI copywriter’s assistant, it offers unlimited image generations at $20 p/m.
And we have a Facebook group where we show art!
So there you have it!
That’s how AI art generators create original artwork. It’s a complex process, but the end result is definitely worth it. So if you’re in need of some unique and stunning artwork, be sure to give one of these AI image generators a try.
Who knows? You might just even create the next digital masterpiece!
Ready to join Medium?
Unlock the entire Medium catalogue with my referral link, and you’ll also be supporting my writing here at no extra cost to you. I’d appreciate it.
