The process I went through to design this photo essay was quite unique. Understanding the relationship humans have with technology is an ever-changing process. We are seeing innovations of mind blowing proportions happening every day, with comparisons to where we were at a measly 10 years ago seeming like a lifetime in comparison. With this in mind, I did my due diligence on where the most innovation was happening in the photo sphere. I am a musician after all, so It’s important that I stay on top of trends and understand the changes happening in the creative field. After quality research, I stumbled upon the growing community of ‘Midjourney’, an AI photo creation tool based on prompts you provide it with. Although similar to ChatGPT’s version called ‘Dall-E’, this tool is regarded as being much more advanced and ahead of the curve than Dall-E currently is. I took the chance and purchased a one year subscription to this software, and in result came the photos provided for my photo essay. Below I will describe the process I went through to obtain the photos I received, as well as my thought process for constructing this story.
It felt fitting to experiment with AI when I saw one of the prompts as showcasing Human Relationships with Technology. The usage of AI is still quite primitive, and something that I have yet to try myself. I believe as a young creative thinker and person who aspires to do it as a career, it’s my duty to stay on top of trends like this as to not fall behind the competition. Before diving into this process, I feel as I should address the concern artists have with tools like these. AI tools like Dall-E and Midjourney can lots of times be derivative of other artists work, which has spawned a large discussion over what should and shouldn’t be allowed. I for one am very nervous of this, and still am unsure the lengths I can go without running the risk of ‘stepping on anyones toes’ artistically. I believe if your prompts are specific enough, you will be able to land on a creation that is so unique and specific to your asking that it would go beyond what can be perceived as derivative, or stolen. Midjourney allows me to not only ask it prompts, but adjust the creations it generates; whether it be scale, a specific region in the picture, the artistic style, and so much more. With this in mind, I had a lot of fun experimenting with it’s features and letting my brain do the creative thinking to pose better ideas for my story.
The story I told is very much a dystopian reality of how we live today. Kids today are being consumed by a constant overload of media, a reality in which every generation prior has not experienced. The amount of technology we are becoming surrounded by can be quite scary, not to mention more and more jobs are becoming obsolete thanks to automation and AI developments for example. With this in mind, I started with a skeleton that could serve as the basic story, but then added details to each prompt to add an element of surrealism to the picture. Below you will see examples of the prompts I inputted, along with the results I was given by the Midjourney bot. As you can see, the more detail I added into the prompt resulted in a better illustration of what I was looking for. From each of these examples, I could ask the bot to give me 4 variations of the specific one I liked too. This allows for very in depth customization and creative freedom. From there, I crafted my story to slowly dive into the depths of technology, highlighting the positives but also the ugly truths that this digital world has imposed onto us.
Midjourney states that all photos are free to use ‘however you would like’. Despite this broad claim, I fail to see if this serves the original artists’ best interest. How do we know the extent at which their work is being derived from? Is this AI generation completely unique? It’s tough to say, however with the technology rapidly advancing I imagine that these tools will continue to get better at understanding the relationships objects have with one another, and will not need to rely so heavily on outsourced work. The biggest issue these tools have currently is understanding specific details and how to combine them. You will see in my image of the human hand giving the dollar over to the robot, the American dollar is much smaller than it should be. We can also see a $0 on one of the corners, which doesn’t make much sense. If I were to go back in with the prompt and specify this should be changed, I can fix these mistakes with varying degrees of success. However it is clear that AI still has a long way to go. There are no Creative Commons that I can cite with these images, as they are technically completely unique to me. Only time will tell if these generated images will run into legal trouble with actual artists, or if the technology will get to a point of being in its own realm, completely separate of manmade creation. All of these discussions tie in prettily to my photo essay, which I am very pleased at the result of. I am looking forward to continuing my experiments with these tools, and seeing what amazing creations I can conjure up based on my words and own thinking.
I feel more comfortable using AI than Creative Commons work. While yes, crediting the creator properly if the terms state it is fine for usage, there is still uncertainly I feel from putting it on my own website. As a content creator, I feel much more authentic if I were to take these photos myself. The branding, creative lens, and execution could all be up to me rather than at the mercy of someone else’s idea. This is why I feel intrigued to dive deeper into AI. While yes you run the risk of derivative work, it seems as if ‘Midjourney’ is unconcerned about these claims. Through customization you are able to really craft something of your own, which for branding can make for engaging and unique content for your audience. Especially with these new development, this art is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overall, I had a very enjoyable time with this assignment. I look forward to seeing where we go next as a society, and how this will change our lives not only in the scope of entertainment and information, but politically and socially at global scale.