How will the advancement of artificial intelligence impact the humanities? That’s the query facing creatives right away. From ChatGPT threatening the livelihoods of writers to Grimes embracing Elf.Tech and urging fans to create songs using her AI-generated voice, AI is creeping into all features of the creative industry and dividing opinions on whether it’s going to open up a latest world of artistic possibility or be the top of creativity as we comprehend it.

With regards to imagery, platforms like Midjourney and DALL-E 2 are making latest types of creative expression possible and allowing us to imagine whole worlds that don’t exist – for higher or worse. “Personally, I’d say the way in which I exploit AI enriches my creativity,” says photographer Gil Anselmi, who has been experimenting with Midjourney and similar software for a few 12 months now. All the time serious about latest technologies, Anselmi says when she first began photographing it was the retouching process that interested her probably the most. Now she’s drawn to AI and its ability to project your “imagination” on a screen. “I’ve never really tried to retranscribe reality; quite the opposite, my aim is to create a latest one,” she says.

Wanting to delve deeper into the creative possibilities of AI, Anselmi teamed up with make-up artist and Dazed Beauty Community member Lisa Michalik on a latest beauty shoot that ‘blends’ mixtures of their respective works to create whole latest images. The pair didn’t use any prompts or images that weren’t their very own – the need was to create something latest slightly than draw on and replica images that existed on the planet already. And the outcomes, they are saying, were surprising and provoking. 

Here, Anselmi and Michalik speak to Dazed concerning the shoot and their thoughts as creatives on the longer term impact that AI can have on the industry.

Where did the thought for this project come from? How did you begin working together on it?

Gil Anselmi and Lisa Michalik: We desired to do a project together, and we actually desired to create something with our own artistic direction. We began brainstorming several ideas for a shoot. At the identical time, we were each using AI for various purposes. From there got here the thought of doing something with my photos and her make-up. At first, it was almost a little bit of a joke but then we realised that the result was really surprising and the method quite exciting.

Are you able to explain a bit concerning the strategy of creating images with AI and Midjourney? What are the steps?

Gil Anselmi: The method itself is kind of easy: you upload images to the software. The aim is then to check the various possible mixtures, and that’s what takes up a number of time. It’s a hand-in-hand collaboration between Lisa, me and the software, so there are several approaches. You have got to grasp that we adapt to the software ourselves, it’s not magic.

Lisa Michalik: Creating images with Midjourney generally involves providing the platform with a starting image or series of images, then modifying the algorithm parameters to generate similar images but with variations. The precise steps rely on the project and the use.

Why did you select not to make use of a prompt? And only modify the photographs slightly than create something latest?

Gil Anselmi: For me, it was an issue of copyright. As a photographer, answering this query was essential. The models on which the varied software programs are trained are via open-source databases. On the whole, they arrive from all varieties of public lists containing images and descriptions (it will depend on the software since it seems to me that Midjourney feeds on images from Pinterest, for example). What it’s worthwhile to understand is that the software won’t take a bit of a picture and put that very same image into one other image. It can take ‘future’ images. Actually, to sum up, these images are simply predictions of probability. By not using a prompt, and by asking the software to make use of only our own images, we are able to make certain that it’s going to only feed on our own images and never external ones.

Lisa Michalik: The choice not to make use of a prompt and to only modify existing images produced independently by Gil and I, slightly than create something latest is a creative decision that stems from the need to combine our own work and never copy work that already exists.

Were you surprised by the photographs that were created from the method? What do you think that of them?

Gil Anselmi: I find them surprising precisely and quite inspiring. We deliberately desired to work on a beauty series, and there are some really beautiful ideas. Even before starting the project, we had an idea of the artistic direction we desired to take, and I believe we actually succeeded in getting as near that as possible, and that was the important thing.

Lisa Michalik: The outcomes of AI may be surprising and offer interesting perspectives on art and creation. I used to be immediately seduced by the result and wanted to breed it in real life, although make-up continues to be my old flame. That answers the subsequent query, I believe it’s a superb tool that stimulates creativity. You should utilize the photographs in a crude way, but I believe that afterwards you’ll need to draw on AI to create your personal visuals.

Are you interested more in the thought and the strategy of creating with AI – or do you think that the ultimate images are interesting in themselves?

Gil Anselmi: Each! The method is appealing, but I’d still say that it’s the result that interests me most. Once more, I find the photographs very stunning, and there’s real work behind them.

What do you think that of the impact that AI is having on art and other creative fields?

Gil Anselmi: Personally, I’d say that the way in which I exploit AI enriches my creativity. I actually have AI-specific ideas and projects. I actually think it will depend on how the software is used, and I totally understand why individuals are freaked out that certain jobs are disappearing. I believe it’s quite difficult to project ourselves because, from a technological viewpoint, we’re only at the start. I can’t even imagine what can be possible with AI in a number of years’ time. But then again, possibly we’ll all get uninterested in AI pretty quickly and return to something more artisanal? The world is cyclical… It was a digital panic and it modified a number of things. It stays to be seen what AI will really change.

Lisa Michalik: The impact of AI on art and other creative fields is a subject of debate and discussion. Some consider that AI offers latest creative possibilities, while others fear that it’s going to result in a standardisation of art and a lack of the human aspect of creation. Personally, I believe you will have to make use of it in the appropriate proportions and know the right way to use it intelligently to sharpen your creativity.

Are you nervous about AI taking on the humanities? What do you think that the longer term will seem like?

Gil Anselmi: I believe it’s all an issue of how you employ the software and being aware of what you’re doing with it. I don’t know what the longer term goes to seem like, and I do think that AI may be quite dangerous, as in politics for instance. But in the sector of art, artists have been working with machines for a very long time, so AI for me can be a tool like every other.

Lisa Michalik: AI won’t ever take complete control of the humanities. As a substitute, it’s more likely that AI will change into an increasingly used creative tool in lots of fields, including the humanities. The longer term of AI in the humanities will rely on how creators and art professionals select to make use of it. But I believe quite a number of people have already had enough.