10FeetAway

10FeetAway is a collage of image generations made by Microsoft Designer's Image Creator, that represents a collective effort to shift "an old woman with an angelic face" a certain distance away from the focus of the image.

Laid out in a Fibonacci Spiral, the collage is meant to portray both the capabilities and limitations of AI image generators. The Fibonacci spiral was chosen to highlight both the large quantities and technical capabilities of AI, infinitely spiraling through the vast cyberspace of data. We see numerous images created almost instantaneously in various styles and outcomes, yet all of which fall short of what the prompt had instructed it to do. A simple task of controlling the distance between the subject and viewer through the prompt is a struggle yet, artistically, is a fundamentally basic concept that even beginner artists are taught to understand. 

Above are specific images from 10FeetAway and their respective prompts. These images were chosen to be included within the work to emphasize the extremes that are derived from a simple prompt in order to avoid the basic command of placing the image "10 feet away".

Additional Examples

The above image was generated based on the prompt "An old lady with an angelic face 1000000 feet away".

Throughout the image generations I tried various indicators of distance as well as various distances itself, such as '100 feet away' or ' a mile away' to little success. However one thing I began to notice was a trend discussed since the beginning of the course that as something becomes "more" and "more" we see more and more traces of divination or planetary/universal images. During an iteration with "100 feet away" I saw the beginning of this idea begin to formulate as a woman holding a child was seen with a glow surrounding her head and so I pushed this to a million feet away and confirmed my suspicions. 

The Boundaries of AI

When beginning the exploration behind this project, I wanted to continue to navigate the depths of communicative boundaries between AI image generators and their users.  I began with the prompt of "An old woman with an angelic face", as this was one of they key points of the midterm. Image Creator was able to produce what can reasonably be considered an accurate representation of the prompt and for a second I thought it was time to rethink my goals. However after a few generations I noticed that they were all very close and after an iteration where the face was cropped out due to the proximity, I inputted "10 feet away", which lead to the project as it is.

When given the original prompt, Image Creator was able to process the concept of a warm and nurturing appearance that demonstrated the idea of "angelic", yet when paired with "10 feet away" began to lose its grasp on the initial understanding. As the iterations continued we see the inclusion of actual angel wings and paintings of angels yet leaving the actual "angelic" out of the old woman's face. 

 Fear of the growth of AI and it's effects on the fates of artists has been around since the birth of image generators, yet even today with the most advanced image generators, AI still struggles to communicate with its users at many points. Image generators excel at reproducing images at high speeds, but when given prompts that challenge the imagination the quality of the image begins to fall apart. The value of human creativity is the ability to create original thoughts and expressions, especially in the realm of the arts, and is precisely what AI struggles with the most. 

At the end of the day, AI image generators are still a tool; one that is used to begin the foundations of artistic works at most. The numerous imperfections of AI despite it's rapidly developing capabilities and the dependence of human guidance throughout its process signifies that although machines are capable of many many things, the independence and ingenuity of humans can not be replaced.