UC Merced Magazine | Volume XX, Issue VI

Make Art, I Asked. Here’s How a Human and an AI Responded By Jody Murray What would happen if I asked a human being and an arti cial intelligence model to create works of art based on the same text instruction? Let’s nd out. In one corner: Artist, creative writer and UC Merced student Faryn Eastman. In the opposite corner: Dall-E, an arti cial intelligence model developed by OpenAI. e prompt: Create a painting that depicts the emotions surrounding emergence. Use simple, abstract elements. Eastman got to work at her home in Redwood City. On my laptop, I pulled up Dall-E, which is nested in the popular large language model ChatGPT. Over ve days, Eastman created the painting pictured at top le , using acrylic on canvas. I typed the prompt into a text box. In 14 seconds, the image at center le leaped onto the screen. Asked to describe her creation, Eastman said the concept of emergence can be both dangerous and healing. “My reaction to any development that hasn’t been adequately studied is to protect myself,” she said. “But as I painted, I felt myself turning to gentler feelings of curiosity and acceptance.” A er starting with a erce-looking lion amid a palette of reds, she shi ed to blues and gave the feline a more approachable mien. “I acknowledged peace and healing in emergence, recognizing it intends to bring healing and growth, which I represented with the growing plants,” Eastman said. I asked Dall-E to describe its emotional and intellectual choices. It responded in seconds with six bullet items. Examples: e color palette re ected “the emotional transition from potential to reality” while the composition’s upward ow conveyed growth and development. Just for fun, I gave Dall-E one more prompt, repeating the original request but specifying acrylic as the medium along with a primary and secondary color palette. e result (bottom le ) was brighter and perhaps more organic-looking but still lacked the lived experience and human soul Eastman poured into hers.

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Eastman's acrylic painting inspired by the word "emergence"

Dall-E generated art

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