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I Remember SkyNet

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PHOTOGRAPHY – CHALLENGE-RESPONSE

This post is my response to Lens Artists Challenge 301,303,302, and 304.

The Brain is Wider than the Sky

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and you—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—
For—hold them—Blue to Blue—
The one the other will absorb—
As sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God—
For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
And they will differ—if they do—
As Syllable from Sound—

Emily Dickinson

I begin this post with a poem by Emily Dickinson because I believe it sets the groundwork for our discussion. When it comes to artificial intelligence, conversations often spiral out of control. This isn’t the fault of the debaters; rather, it’s the incendiary nature of the topic itself. I frequently ponder why this happens. After all, artificial intelligence isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s been around for decades in various forms, often used without our awareness. What is new is our heightened awareness of it, which in itself can be alarming.

The human brain has endless potential for imagination. I once read a monologue about the death of imagination and found it deeply tragic. As a multi-genre artist, I can’t imagine being constrained by anything. If an obstacle arises, you find a way around it. Dickinson’s poem serves as a daily reminder of this principle. Despite this, discussions about artificial intelligence remain volatile. For this post, I had to navigate using AI without compromising my beliefs and principles, setting clear boundaries.

For instance, I decided that no generated image would be displayed unless rendered using a photo I had taken. This added a layer of authenticity to the work. With this parameter in place, I embarked on this project. It took over three weeks to bring this post together. I asked myself why I have had so much difficulty writing about technology since I started with digital art over 40 years ago. It boils down to this … I remember SkyNet. For those who don’t know what SkyNet is. SkyNet was an AI system that nearly caused the extinction of the human race, the antagonist of the Terminator Saga.

In earlier posts, I discussed how I have experimented with AI images, but I took a deeper look into the topic in this post. I overheard an older gentleman commenting that we must deal with God. The comment struck a cord within me. Usually, I ignore commentary that isn’t directed towards me, but I couldn’t shake this one. So, I took a hard look.

As a writer, one of the most important comments I receive is when someone tells me that they envision what I wrote.

“It’s like painted a picture in my mind!”

My issue is that I never tell when I pull it off or not. Many times, the reader seems lost about a particular scene. Some will question how this happened when this or that didn’t happen. Typically, I will point out the section that answers their question. Then smile and walk away. However, the string of questions lingered in the back of my head. I reread some of my work, and I couldn’t clearly see what I was describing. So, I decided years later to try to use AI to see if it could do any better.

Below are examples of the character/scene visualizations from some of my current projects:

Scene Descriptions:

Agnes in the hayloft at Klondike Falls

Meet Agnes, an essential character from one of the novels I’m working on. I couldn’t get a clear picture of the scene I wrote. Now, I can see details I would like to add to enrich the narrative. This by no means is what Agnes is going to look like, but I was concerned with the background in the particular portion. I wondered if it projected the serene atmosphere I was envisioning.

These next two images are variations of scenes from a short story from a short story collection.

Early Morning (take 1)
Early Morning (take 2)

Both of these images are rendered from the same prompt. So, you can see AI does what it wants. I don’t like loss of control in this area. However, from a writing standpoint, I can tweak the prompt and get closer to what I want. It doesn’t matter how much I adjust things; I have no control over what the reader envisions while reading, but I have a warm fuzzy that attempts to provide the best visual for the reader. Yes, I realize that warm fuzzy might be heartburn. Where did I put those Tums?

Character Descriptions:

In the world of AI images, there are several different platforms available. So, I played around with a few different ones. When I’m comfortable with the scene description, I move on to the character featured in the scene. I want my characters to be as realistic as possible. Usually, I don’t assign an ethnicity to my characters unless necessary for the story. I find it usually isn’t necessary.

Here is an image based on Early Morning (take 2):

Early Morning – Black Woman

I decided to play again with the prompt and rendered the next image

Early Morning – Latino Woman

Neither image is perfect, but the clarity tells me I’m on the right track with the character descriptions.

As a photographer, I can answer the question. Is using AI images cheating? My answer; Hell yeah! I will explain my opinion a little more at the end. While I was ill, I couldn’t get out, and my shutterbug was on. Between hospital stays and doctor’s office visits, it was enough to keep up with medications and whatnot. However, my imagination was working. Although it was sluggish, like it was a good drunk, from time to time, it mutter something between hiccups.

I started playing with word prompts to create rudimentary images. Then, when I got stronger, I revisited the topic. So, I began using AI imagery as a creative outlet. I’ve been attempting to combine all my creative expressions to create images. As a writer, cinematographer, photography hobbyist, and pencil sketcher, I attempt to combine all of these elements in my creative process. Here are examples of my attempts.

I humbly submit Hexadecimal Gardens:

Here are Bob and Karol enjoying the serenity of the gardens. They have been married for 56 years, getting married right out of high school. They come to the gardens every Saturday. Bob is napping because Bob naps, and Karol is reading while they share their connection with nature.

Here is Cynda, 53, a social worker, relaxing after a particularly stressful week. She’s sitting in the newly renovated portion of the garden. A year has passed since Randy. Her husband passed. Cynda enjoys the solitude because she can’t talk about it. I often overhear her telling Randy how beautiful the flowers have bloomed this year.

Here’s Mary, retired muse. You know, she’s 600 years old? I questioned her age, telling her she didn’t look a day over 55. She simply smiled and pinched my cheek.
“Aren’t you a little fresh fella,” she replied, patting my backside as she told me the bearded irises required attention.

So, the garden is technically a 200-acre reserve. We cater to people of all ages. I frequently wonder about the other areas for various reasons.

Summer 27 is often found in the rose bunches, having plucked flowers from several different areas. Once, I gave her the evil eye, and she muttered some hippy-dippy madness. I just walked away. I heard her giggling. Some of these people are weirdos, but they keep me in business. What can you do?

Windy loves to mediate in the J-section, an open area with no traffic. However, it isn’t supposed to be open to the public until next Spring. I need to check with Mary.

Cora enjoys walking through the sunflowers in the F-section. I dislike sunflowers, so I considered replacing them with daisies. I asked if she liked daises, and she shook her head. No. Then she said, “You know, you planted this field from me.” I turned and walked away. I heard giggling again.

Hexadecimal Gardens Staff:

These people are a pain in the butt, but I couldn’t run the place without them.

Before I forget, let me show you the new bearded irises. Mary will be so proud.

I think they came good. Wait a second, here comes Mary.

Mary stops and looks at the new arrangement. She touches my shoulder and asks, “Are you finished letting the nice people into a corner of madness?”

I look puzzled at her.

“You need to go back, darling. It’s time. You’ve been in your special place for long enough today.” she says, looking directly into my eyes. I hate when she does that. It’s like she is looking at my soul and seeing its truth.

Mary’s expression softens, and she says, “Now, go write the secrets the world is trying to keep.” She winks at me and pats my butt as she walks away. What’s up with that woman’s obsession with my backside? I’m fresh? I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then, exhale slowly. The world darkens, and I begin to slip away.

Okay, I’m back. Sorry about that. I lost track of time when I visited there. I hope you enjoyed your tour of the garden.

Earlier, I was able to take you deep within the crevasses of my mind and provide you with vivid visuals. Capturing all those images in real life would have taken an immense amount of time, considering the perfect timing, the absence of people, and countless other variables. Instead, I sat in front of my laptop and created a simulation of the garden within my mind in just a few hours. Although I mentioned weeks of preparation for this post, that time was primarily spent learning the parameters of AI-generated images. The actual assembly of this post took just a few hours. I created and edited images while narrating the story to you.

When I say AI is cheating, I mean it absolutely is—but if used properly, with restraint and responsibility, it can be a powerful tool. Imagine someone with minimal mobility in their hands creating beautiful images with just a few mouse clicks or voice commands.

Nothing will replace traveling to capture a shot or discovering something unexpected during a shoot. Countless times, I’ve witnessed nature’s splendor worldwide and have been fortunate enough to capture it. The emotion tied to those shots is irreplaceable. If I hadn’t been laid up for months, I would never have explored AI—I would have been too busy getting the real thing.

I know I’m late to the party, but I hope my remarks add value to the discussion. Every image featured in this post has been AI-generated. AI isn’t perfect, so I used my Adobe toolbox to fix some things. AI-generated images aren’t just about typing something in and walking away. I’ve seen work from most of you and know you wouldn’t let defects slide. So, if you decide to add this tool to your arsenal, it has the potential to be incredibly valuable.

May we continue to heal our corners of the world with our art…

~thank you for reading~

8 thoughts on “I Remember SkyNet”

  3. I tend to agree with you about using AI for creative purposes, and have said nearly the same on my blog, though I must admit that for this year’s NaPoWriMo, I did use AI-generated images for some of the graphics. I did this when I couldn’t find a free image that fit what I wanted. I did try to keep it to a minimum, and only 9 of the 31 poems have an AI image that I specifically generated. This was mainly the fault of my budget (or lack thereof) preventing the use of anything that would’ve cost money, but also, time constraints prevented me from doing the artwork myself.

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    1. I’m chuckling about the time and budget constraints. It seems to be a common theme globally these days. I remember one of the hardest parts of writing poetry is finding the right graphic for your words. It took longer the find the graphic than to write and edit the poem … madness. I eventually went back to fiction and prose. With all the copyrighting issues on art we hae to be carefully about images used on the web. Well over a decade ago, we were bandits guns blazing snatching what we wanted. That was good and fine until people started snatching yours. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

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