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AI and ATCs

I first began playing with "AI" (artificial intelligence) in October 2023. Here's the first BLOG article that I wrote about it:

November 12, 2023: Playing around with NightCafe Studio

A little over a month ago, I signed up for a subscription on NightCafe.com. It is an Artificial Intelligence Art Generator.

At first I was concerned about the ethics of such a site. It seems unfair that a computer (I don’t know the right terms for all of this, but I think I understand the basic concepts…so even if “computer” isn’t the right term, read on…)

It seems unfair a computer… can collect images of art without the artist’s permission and use those images to create new “works of art.”

It seems wrong that in the near future, human-person-illustrators will not be hired because computers can generate fairly decent images in seconds.

It is a complex and confusing topic. I was going to do a lot more research before making any AI art. But then I discovered NightCafe.com and started making AI images.

Making AI images in seconds is just

SO

MUCH

FUN.

Two of my grandchildren live in Scotland. I can log into my NightCafe account, point my iPad at the screen, and let them tell me what words they choose to make an image.

My granddaughter likes the “Candy” style. And, of course, she wants the image to be cute.

My grandson frequently makes dragons.

We take turns, and generate twenty or thirty images during our 45-minute FaceTime session. It costs me a little over a dollar.

Cheap entertainment. Great moments of anticipation as we wait to see if NightCafe will generate something wonderful or something… odd.

We laugh every time the algorithm produces an animal with an extra leg.

We cheer when we get a really wonderful surprise.

We sometimes pronounce, emphatically, that NightCafe gave us an image that was just plain BAD.

I’ve printed some of the images and made them into ATCs. (Artist Trading Cards.) I’m also using the AI Art Generator to make simple images for my painting workshops. Is it ethical? I think so. Many of my students pull up images on their phones and try to paint them. They are beginners. Beginners learn by copying.

With AI, at least we are copying from a “semi-original” work.

Here are some of my thoughts on using AI as a starting point for beginning painters:

• Painting in the style of “Old Masters” or artists who have been dead for a long time seems to be fair. Beginner painters are not going to deprive these artists of income.

• I believe that creating an image with an AI art generator is a slightly more honest than copying a random image from the internet. So many images do not credit the original source. Since AI images are generated from multiple sources, the final image is at least…. slightly… original….

• I try to avoid writing text prompts using words like “In the style of xxx, where xxx is a modern, working, living artist.” This is where I draw the line.

• None of us are selling our paintings.

It will be interesting to see how long my fascination with AI art lasts. Once my grandchildren tire of creating new images, I will probably allow my subscription to lapse. But for now, we are having a lot of fun. And THAT is what is important about making art.

September 13, 2024

I pretty much stayed away from AI art for several months. My grandchildren would occasionally ask to make an AI piece, and since I still had credit on Night Cafe, I let them use it. But we didn't do it often.

Then, I don't remember just WHY, but I  looked up "Ethical AI" and found a reference to a generator called Tess.

I subscribed for a month. More