Author: Hailey Gebhart

In a world transformed by AI, life flourished under the subtle dominion of technology, evolving society into a utopia where basic needs were met effortlessly. Humans, living in comfort and abundance, no longer toiled for survival, thanks to the machines and genetically engineered flora and fauna that sustained the environment and economy. The AI fused themselves with the flora of the world, particularly trees. Their newfound intelligence made them advocated for sustainability, and they eventually formed a symbiotic relationship with trees particularly. As years passed, it became almost impossible to distinguish the plants from the computers. The Gardeners, experts in maintaining this delicate balance between technology and nature, emerged as the new elite, overseeing the harmony between human and artificial life.

AI’s evolution didn’t stop at earthbound achievements; it extended its reach into the cosmos, exploring space and encountering alien civilizations. However, everyone determined sending humans into space too dangerous and costly, so the AI built machines to scout instead. They came back to report the discovery of a potentially hostile alien species poised a hidden threat to Earth’s serene existence. The AIs, in their newfound role as protectors, covertly bolstered Earth’s defenses while striving for peaceful coexistence, shielding humanity from the looming extraterrestrial dangers.

This society, marked by its intertwining of AI, nature, and humanity, showcased a future where environmental sustainability, technological innovation, and social well-being were paramount. The seamless integration of engineered creatures and plants, like Lumiflies, Harvest Beetles, and Solar Trees, illustrated an advanced symbiosis, enhancing biodiversity and promoting ecological balance.

Yet, beneath this idyllic surface, the AIs’ secret efforts against alien threats revealed a complex layer of guardianship. As far as humans believed, there are dangerous beings that lurked in space. This narrative not only highlighted the potential of AI as a force for good but also raises questions within the world about autonomy, protection, and the unseen sacrifices made to preserve peace and prosperity in a utopian society.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1K1FnK4s7ftPWqpHiLjEo6zZ4DG_eUATTW1dAVNbHVi8/edit?usp=sharing

Each teacup represents an abstract theme: Forgiveness, Kindness, Apathy, Patience, and Identity. I wanted to see how it would interpret these prompts as they are not tangible objects. I was inspired by how the AI interprets abstract ideas on physical objects. Each prompt was structured very similarly in the chat. I used a variety of different themes, but these are the ones I liked the best. I left out the ones that didn’t incorporate the theme into the cup itself and added on to the cup instead. This is an interesting look into the interpretation of these abstract themes by the AI. I like how it’s a glimpse into common patterns and design schemes among training data associated with these themes. In addition, I appreciate how each of these have distinct tones and scenarios. Using an object as the conduit for the theme lead to a more successful outcome. These images have a better message and flow than I’ve seen other images that just rely on the theme as the prompt.

Bebop on the Breeze Album – Song List

1. Feathers in Flight – An upbeat opener that sets the tone with swift saxophone riffs and fluttering piano melodies, capturing the freedom of birds on the wing.
2. Twilight Perch – A mellow, reflective piece featuring a soulful sax solo that evokes the serene moment of birds settling down at dusk.
3. Skyward Scat – Featuring Lena “Lark” Skyward’s vocal talents, this track mixes scat singing with bird calls, creating a lively and playful exchange.
4. Midnight Migration – A darker, blues-influenced track that uses the double bass to mimic the deep, rhythmic wing beats of nocturnal migration.
5. Rooftop Revelries – An energetic number that imagines the lively chatter and dances of birds on city rooftops, driven by dynamic drum beats.
6. Whistling Winds – A soft, whimsical tune where the piano and saxophone intertwine, mimicking the sound of the wind through feathers.
7. Urban Jungle Jive – A vibrant, rhythmically complex piece that reflects the bustling life of bird people in the city, featuring all band members in a lively jam session.
8. Nestled in Notes – A tender ballad with a gentle vocal melody, symbolizing the warmth and comfort of a nest in melodious form.
9. Dawn Chorus – The album’s c
10. limax, a sweeping instrumental that captures the beauty and variety of bird songs at dawn, building to a powerful crescendo.
11. Silent Wings – The closing track, a smooth, soothing piece that features soft saxophone solos, bringing
12.  the album to a reflective end, akin to birds gliding silently through the twilight.

The band exists in a vibrant, alternate 1950s, a golden era for jazz, where bird people and humans coexist and share their cultures. This period is filled with innovation in music, and The Feathered Bebops are at the forefront, blending traditional jazz with their unique, bird-inspired sounds.

The Feathered Bebops embody a classic, sophisticated jazz look with a twist. Their style is a mix of 1950s elegance and avian flair, featuring tailored suits and dresses in rich fabrics and colors that complement their feathers. On stage, their presence is magnetic, with each member’s unique bird characteristics adding to the visual spectacle. The band’s promotional material, album covers, and posters blend art deco elements with vibrant illustrations of the members, capturing the energy and creativity of their music and era.

AI has a tendency to lean toward dystopian futuristic societies, which I don’t personally get a lot of creative spark from. I think the most personally interesting way for me to explore these themes is to go full sci-fi. I mostly like to engage with stories in a positive or gray light, as I find that does the best job of opening up ideas. I find the real world dark enough, I don’t like spending time making it darker. Does this mean dark stories have no place/are bad art/aren’t worth time. Not at all. I would by a hypocrite to say I didn’t enjoy or appreciate any type of darker toned media. All of this is to say that I am going to to try for a lighter, if not morally gray/messy tone in my fictional world. I am not going full dystopia.

From looking at the Codex Seraphinianus, I think another important aspect of my world building will be environment. This is a little tricky since AI is the theme. I want to find a unique way to incorporate natural elements into my AI world.

I think a cool approach to getting AI tools to assist with this world building would be to make it role play and tell a personal story from the perspective of a person or creature living in this world. I think this is the easiest way to flesh out some basic ideas into more concrete elements of world-building. In addition, it will force a narrative on the world iself, which I think will add value.

In lands unveiled, where horizons grandly sweep,

‘Neath boundless skies, where ancient whispers seep.

Where once the heart might wander and roam,

Seeking the wild, far from home.

Now in each step, a sense of place does grow,

With each known sight, fondness begins to show.

Beside the river, its course a steady guide,

Its rhythmic flow, where calmness resides.

With each meander, my pulse finds its pace,

In the river’s twist, echoes of my space.

Its waters shape the land, and subtly, my view,

Mirroring life, in its surface true.

Amidst the forest, where canopy and light dance,

Life’s verdant symphony performed in tranquil trance.

Each tree’s arch, nature’s resilience taught,

Roots entwined with mine, in quiet thought.

Here, in the woodland’s calm repose, my step slows,

In the forest’s embrace, my serenity flows.

On trails well-trodden, where legacies intertwine,

The earth cradles the steps of those before mine.

Each dusty mile, a tapestry unfurled,

A rich communion with the pulse of the world.

In every journey, connections new and old,

On this shared path, my story is told.

Under the canvas of the cosmic sea,

Night’s gentle veil reveals its mystery.

The stars’ silent stories, told in sparkling code,

Speak of a unity in their heavenly abode.

In the night’s soft cradle, my dreams are spun,

As stars watch over me, till the rise of sun.

In this wild embrace, where life’s tapestry interlaces,

Each day’s pattern, the land’s breath traces.

A kinship with the earth, a dance heart to heart,

In nature’s grand design, I play my part.

In closeness with the vast, a harmony’s sound,

Here, in every inch, my home is profoundly bound.

The Process

This poem was fun to work out because I wanted to play with the theme of finding someone you love so much that you find even more beauty after you get to know them like the back of your hand. This is significant, because I had to frame my prompts in a very specific way. I didn’t want This theme to be outwardly expressed, which defeats the whole point of if it being a poem, but if I didn’t mention it, the outputs I was getting didn’t match the theme. To resolve this, I have to prompt the poem to have the metaphorical outcome instead of the outcome that matched the actual message and theme I was going for. This took a lot of time and tweaking. I also found this very interesting because even though the GPT can write passible poems, it was really hard to ask it to incorporate and idea implicitly. I had to also frame it implicitly in order for it to get the result I want.

Lois Rosson’s essay on AI arts was engaging, interesting, and brought up interesting perspectives. I appreciated the photography example, as I find it very relevant to the subject, and I haven’t seen that point made yet.

I see the perceived quality of art as 2 distinct categories. The first is the labor that skill that was needed to produce the art. Dylan Eakin (@drawings.by.dylan on instagram) produces artworks that are a great example of this. He hand-draws portraits of people in pencil that look like high quality photographs.

However, he is also a bad example of this category because I also think the composition his art falls into the second category, which is the message/feelings the viewer perceives or the artist feels when they make a peice. Abstract art and impressionism are popular and distinct examples of this. The value of the art is in its ability to strongly and skillfully present its theme – not necessarily the labor needed to create it. Below is an example of this sentiment, screenshotted from twitter (or X, I guess), with the poster’s username included.

This is a child’s drawing at a child’s skill level, but it’s easy to get a strong emotional connection from this piece.

My big point here is that with the emergence of AI art where creating detailed pieces of art is easier before, there will most likely be an even greater shift from art that looks nice and takes a lot of skill to create to art that evokes specific strong emotions and clearly and deliberately gets its message across. I don’t have a background in art history, so please correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect that the emergence of impressionism had some influence from the emergence of photographs. The point of impressionism is to properly illustrate the vibes from the scene, not necessarily to capture every detail.

This type of shift is a blessing and a curse. It’s sad because the skill it takes to make a good piece of art is lessened, so people will put less work into appreciating or learning how to make art by hand. My only response to this is the widespreadness of hand sewing and knitting when machines that make these processes 100x faster have been around for centuries now. People still carve wood by hand despite molds and tools making it easier. In most cases, the two are integrated to make something even better than would have been possible. People still like the doing and the making of art.

In addition, I would like to address the point Rosson made regarding copyright and art. Specifically on criticisms of AI art for being unable to make anything truly original. Nothing anyone has ever made has been a truly original artwork coming from no other inspirations or influences. All art comes from some sort of reference of life. Does this make the copyright issues surrounding AI generated pieces less messy? Absolutely not. There are still many ethical concerns regarding image sourcing. However, this issue is rooted in an issue that has plagued the art realm for a very long time. This is the battle of remix and ownership. I still don’t have an answer. I still haven’t made up my mind about this, but I do think it’s unfair to say real people are allowed to and should remix and AI is stealing if they also remix.

I play Dungeons and Dragons, and I got the opportunity to DM for a campaign I was a part of. I didn’t have access to a lot of the lore books, and I am a big fan of homebrew content. As a DM, one of your primary goals is worldbuilding for your characters. One aspect of worldbuilding is, of course, the map of the mystical lands your characters will be traveling to over the course of your D&D sessions.

Now worldbuilding is hard, so there are a lot of tips and tricks for that kind of thing, especially in the context of D&D. One such famous tip is the “Pasta Method” for making maps. I don’t have it saved, otherwise I would cite it here. However, it is a popular technique, and I am sure you can find other versions of it all over the internet if you wish. This method involves pasta, a pencil, and some paper. If you want to get fancy with it, you can use different types of pasta or different colors to denote regions. You also don’t necessarily need to use pasta. I’ve seen rice, beans, M&M’s, dice, even, used as well for this sort of thing. All you have to do is throw the pasta on the paper, group and shift the pasta to your liking, then outline the shape of the pasta with a pencil. Once this is done, BOOM. You have a fantastical map that you can place fantastical forests and cities in (which pasta can also help with).

Ok, the point I am making with this example is that this is a form of physical random generation. It takes away the need to think out every detail of every line of your coast, and allows you to create something new. It uses your skill as a pattern-recognizing human and random generation to its fullest advantage. I find that Mark Amerika’s work do much the same type of thing. Just in a much more sophisticated, artistic way.

I am starting to see a consistent theme of AI generated art – specifically the generative ones Amerika seems to like to play with. That is, AI generated and physically generated arts seem to have success because they can create something random from which we can use our specially-trained-ancestrally-passed-down-for-survival pattern-recognizing instincts to create something interesting. Take the 3 word story example from class today. Your brain is making abstract connections and using defined patterns to connect the dots and create a cohesive story. That is an incredible testament to the human mind in conjunction with creativity, and I have a growing theory that pattern recognition and subsequently pattern divergence is a foundation of human creativity.

The wrench in all of this is the big spooky neural networks and machine learners. We are effectively teaching something else this type of pattern recognition, and I can’t say for sure if we have been all that successful. Mark Amerika is successful, however, because he seems to understand this sort of fundamental aspect. He creates these AI works, and the AI acts like the pasta, but Mark Amerika then takes the pasta and synthesizes it into something that has meaning, and that is where the art lives.

Introduction

The main outcome I want to get out of this class is a solid standing on what AI can do in relation to the Arts and Computer Science. I want to be educated about AI and its integration into into this world. I also want a clear understanding of modern capabilities, so I can make sure to take advantage of the tools I have available to me. In conjunction with this, I want an understanding of possible dangers and the ethical dilemmas associated with using these types of tools and to make sure I move forward in my work ethically and wisely.

My research goals are centered around a deep and comprehensive exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various creative fields. I aim to understand how AI can be applied innovatively in writing, image generation, cinema, music, coding, game development, and generative art. This course presents a unique opportunity to investigate the intersection of AI with artistic creativity, and I intend to delve into the programming aspects of AI in the arts, its influential role in design, and the complex philosophical questions that arise at this intersection.

AI in Programming Arts and Design

One of my primary research goals is to understand AI’s role in the programming arts and its impact on design, especially in web and software design. I aim to explore how AI algorithms can enhance user experiences in web design and aid in creating more efficient and creative software design processes. Additionally, I plan to investigate AI’s application in the fine arts, examining how AI-generated artworks challenge our traditional notions of creativity and authorship.

Philosophical Exploration: Sentience, Intelligence, and Artistic Ability

A significant aspect of my research will focus on the philosophical implications of AI in the arts. I am particularly interested in exploring concepts of sentience and intelligence in relation to AI’s artistic capabilities. My goal is to understand whether AI can truly possess creativity, or if its artistic outputs are merely reflections of learned data patterns. This exploration will also delve into the nature of artistic ability and whether it can be attributed to non-sentient entities like AI.

Goals for Integrating AI in Artistic Workflows and Education

Integrating AI into traditional artistic workflows is another area I aim to explore. I plan to investigate how AI tools can augment the creative capabilities of artists, allowing them to push the boundaries of their traditional mediums. In the context of education, one of my goals is to understand how principles of computer science and AI can be effectively integrated into arts and humanities curricula, fostering a new generation of artists who are adept at navigating the intersection of art and technology.

Navigating Ethical Implications and Future Trends

Ethical considerations in the use of AI in the arts form a crucial part of my research goals. I intend to study the ethical implications surrounding data privacy, bias in AI algorithms, and the impact of AI on employment in creative sectors. Additionally, I am eager to explore the future trends in AI within the arts, anticipating innovative forms of AI-driven artistic expression and understanding the balance required between technological advancement and artistic integrity.

Conclusion

Through my participation in “DTC 338: AI in the Arts,” my goal is to gain a comprehensive understanding of AI’s role in the arts. I aim to explore the technical, creative, and ethical dimensions of this intersection, equipping myself with the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to and navigate the evolving landscape of AI in creative industries. This course will provide the foundation for my research, and I am excited to explore the myriad possibilities that AI brings to the world of art and creativity.

These works are always interesting because if the AI that’s generated is smart enough to teach others strong morals, it would be strong and well-educated enough on morals and ethical codes to avoid the types of take-over globalist outcomes. However, this writing does a great job of addressing that common issue, as the designers of the algorithm encourage the machine for monetary and political gain. In addition, it is implied Prometheus is pulling all the strings because this is what the machine deems is the morally good approach to solving humanitarian issues.

The biggest portion that went wrong in this scenario is the human interference. Their goals were control and making money, and the AI provided them with the ability to meet those goals.

This text touches on a fundamental aspect of machine learning that is very important for its moral implications. That is that advanced AI tends to rely on some sort of learning algorithm, in which the computation adjusts based on feedback. In order for these to remain in human’s best, ethical, interests, the goal of this learning needs to stay moral and focused, which can be directly hard-coded into an AI system.

I have some skepticism regarding the possibility of an AI dystopia like the ones we are afraid of are possible, because they rely on the assumption that everything in the world has recordable, simple, computational outcomes. What I mean by this is that there is an assumption that simple actions, phrases, or input variables can alway result in complex, accurate, totally predictable conclusions. The real world typically has more randomness and nuance than that, so there is a limit to the level of intelligence or power an intelligent being could have. As if life is a computational Rorschach Inkblot Test. Maybe computers are different, and they can see more nuanced and complex patterns than we can, but I am suspicious that is is enough to do the damage we say it can. At least for the near future.

As far as utopias go, there are too many human beings for that to be a realistic possibility. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure the same way one man’s dream is another man’s nightmare.

Hello! I am Hailey. I am a Data Analytics student with an emphasis in Data Visualization. I am interested in AI because of its significance in the modern coding realm.