[Generative AI] Series—#01

The Process

Using Midjourny (the premier generative AI tool) I created a portrait of a female “humanoid,” if you will (think Ex-Machina). The results are a combination of many rounds of blend prompts, using numerous different mixes of image references I pulled from the web (mostly Pinterest), until I got a base version of what I wanted, then making several variations from those blends (adding additional text prompts with each variation), upscaling selects from those variations, further blending those variations together and inserting more text prompts to fine tune … I then up-res’ed the final images in Remini (an online photo enhancer). Finally, I pulled the images into Photoshop to “finish” them - adding skin textures and details, adjusting tonality, etc … really bringing it to life.

NOTE: The left side of her face is slightly deconstructed. This is my interpretation of what a synthetic skin might look like over time from heat generated from the internal capacitors and other electrical components of a humanoid’s computer insides. The dead stare is deliberate; meant to at once personify the utter soullessness of artificially intelligent life, and mesmerize the viewer.

**Humanoid 2023.001 |. Created with Midjourney**

Proof of Concept

In exploring different mediums for presenting these creations as a proof of concept I came across an exhibit put on by the MOHAI (museum of history and industry) - yes, I had never heard of this museum either. It took place in October of last year and it was part of a traveling exhibition. It was called Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind and the Machine. Here is an excerpt from the exhibit I pulled from their website.

Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine is the first traveling museum exhibit in the United States to focus on the evolution and potential of artificial intelligence. Opening at MOHAI on October 15, 2022, this exhibit explores what artificial intelligence (AI) is, how it works, what it can do, and what it might become.

The exhibit presents the science and technology that underlies AI from machine learning to voice recognition. Visitors will experience an up-close look at what thinking machines are and investigate how AI will be part of their future—as end users and even as developers.

Hailed as the ultimate future technology, AI is in the headlines, in our computing devices, and is a pervasive topic when pondering our future. AI is at once exciting, wondrous, and praised as it is mysterious, misunderstood, and feared. Making its West Coast premiere at MOHAI, the Artificial Intelligence exhibit is especially relevant to Seattle, where AI is deeply embedded in our recent history and a significant factor in our region’s future.

I reimagined the exhibit, to center around the rise of artificial intelligence not so much as the invisible technologies and SEEMINGLY innocuous “machines” we’ve come to know and love, but in the form of humanoids, that enter society and compete for our attention. A future that - likely or not - has stoked our fears and riled our passions for the better part of the last quarter century, If not longer.

This re-imagined exhibit calls into question our place and purpose in a future world in which AI becomes not only an existential threat to our existence as we know it … but a physical one.