Discussing DALL-E: The Impact of AI on Art

Discussing DALLE Poster

DALL-E is an AI system that can create realistic images and art when given a prompt. For example, this poster was generated when DALL-E was asked to produce an ‘oil painting of a sad robot who is forced to create art for humans’. The AILA initiative, led by Professor Lee Spector, has created Amherst College’s first exhibition of art generated through artificial intelligence. The prompts given to DALL-E were descriptions of real pieces of artwork within the Mead’s collection. With no clue how the actual object looks, how close will the artificially-generated image be to it’s genuine counterpart? After the exhibition, there will be a discussion panel with professors from the Computer Science department and Art department at Amherst College. We will touch upon various topics, such as: ‘Is DALL-E an artist?’ or ‘Once it’s been produced, who owns the AI-generated art?’. Students are also welcome to ask their own questions!

One thought on “Discussing DALL-E: The Impact of AI on Art”

  1. sike
    oogieva25
    10
    Nov ’22
    We can not wait :heart_eyes:

    Lee Spector
    lspector
    8
    Nov ’22
    Thanks to everyone who participated!

    One thought that I had but didn’t share during the discussion concerns the question, which we did discuss to some extent, of whether AI presents a qualitatively different kind of innovation/disruption than previous technologies such as photography have presented in the arts: Maybe it does, because it is the first technology that might be considered to be automating the thinking/cognitive elements of artistic production.

    1 month later

    Lee Spector
    lspector
    6
    Dec ’22
    The Amherst communications office has posted a nice article 5 on the event, with images! https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2022/december/ai-of-the-beholder

    13 days later

    Lee Spector
    lspector
    6
    Jan 1
    I think this essay by cartoonist Sarah Anderson, in the New York Times, makes some important points that are related to some of the themes raised in our discussion: The Alt-Right Manipulated My Comic. Then A.I. Claimed It. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/opinion/sarah-andersen-how-algorithim-took-my-work.html

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