Generative AI and the Power of Imagination

Lately, I have been playing around with generative artificial intelligence software to see how it works and what possible things I could learn from its usage. The images displayed in this article were all generated by me on one of the many AI platforms using prompts. Prompts are descriptive instructions given to an AI software to create something you imagined.

It’s amazing that the images you are looking at are pretty realistic and nearly humanlike. The images of the “humans” look like someone you probably have met or seen somewhere, but technically, none exist on the planet. But they look natural. This is the power of deep fake technology.

Many professional graphic designers and creatives lost their jobs ten to fifteen years ago because “YouTube University” happened.

YouTube became a place where anyone can learn to do anything by watching tutorials without needing to pay a professional to do it. This kicked off a massive DIY season, which is still running.

Now, for those who are graphic designers and designers in general, imagine that you don’t even need to watch tutorials to create something yourself. Still, all you need is to imagine what you want, type out the prompt or prompts required and then let a generative artificial intelligence app do the rest. It is incredible, especially when we are right at the beginning of using these technologies.

But I like it, even though I have my thoughts about AI. You can read my articles on AI at the links below:
https://www.msingiafrikamagazine.com/2023/09/graphic-design-creativity-and-originality-in-the-face-of-generative-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.msingiafrikamagazine.com/2023/06/the-future-of-life-on-earth/

It’s about thinking and Imagination

Initially, when generative AI platforms started emerging online, I had reservations about the entire thing and still do. My first thought was that generative AI would make humans suspend their ability to think and use AI to get things done for them. But as I subscribed to one of the platforms and started interacting with the technology, I realized it is also an opportunity to think and be imaginative.

As I mentioned, prompts are descriptive commands given to an AI generative app to create something one imagines. And without prompts, nothing happens. And here is what I realized: if you don’t take time to think, imagine, and accurately spell out what you want AI to create for you, you will keep getting wrong outputs, which can be very frustrating and time and money-wasting. So, against my initial opinion of AI, I found myself putting in the effort to think about the thing I wanted to generate, imagine what it would look like when it was generated and then write out the prompts that would accurately or almost accurately give me a good result.

We have somehow created a generation of people who have lost the ability to think, imagine and come up with things. Most young people want to play games, dance on TikTok, and do mindless online challenges that add nothing to the overall well-being of their communities.

Yes, there are a lot of pitfalls with the advent of generative AI, especially for creatives who, before now, needed both their imaginative thinking and hours of clicking the computer to come up with something, but now can do the same thing with more critical thinking and less time clicking. So, I think it makes sense to “embrace” the positive side of creative AI while not disregarding whatever evil it can be used for. Evil like deep fake images and videos of people for malicious purposes and the loss of originality at some point.

In other words, generative AI, for me now, is just a tool for delivering what I am thinking and imagining.

What are your thoughts?