Creative Collaboration With Artificial Intelligence: Literary Portraits
What happened when I asked one Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) tool (ChatGPT) to gather quotes which describe famous fictional characters, and then instruct the other A.I. (MidJourney) to draw these characters, based solely upon the descriptions rendered by their authors?
The results BLEW MY MIND!!
In my consulting work, I use my decades as a performer and innovative thinker to help creative powerhouses at Fortune 500 companies to unite in collaboration. When working well together, separate creative entities become even more powerful! So it was natural for me to try this collaborative experiment with the now-trending A.I. websites ChatGPT and Midjourney.
I conducted an experiment between ChatGPT, the newly popular chatbot which gives detailed responses and articulate answers across many domains of knowledge, and MidJourney, the artificial intelligence program that creates images from textual descriptions.
Basically I culled the research of a know-it-all Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) (ChatGPT), and plugged the results into the A.I. version of Google Images known as MidJourney. I had these two collaborate to render pictures of characters from literature, again, using only the descriptions made by great the authors.
For the first one, I limited myself to inputting only the words used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to describe Jay Gatsby. ChatGPT quickly found all of the relevant direct quotes pertaining to the look and appearance of the man. I cut and pasted this text and did a little editing before entering it into the input box over at MidJourney. I did little things like eliminate the characters name and any direct reference to the book. I wanted to give the A.I. art program the chance to draw the character based solely on the words of the author.
First we have the A.I’s version of the fictional Jay Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzerald. #artificialintelligence #research #art #chatgpt #midjourneyart #midjourney #midjourneyai
The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as rendered by the description of Gatsby by Fitzgerald, as culled by A.I. chatbot, ChatGPT. The results of which were then entered into the artificial intelligence art program Midjourney.
The description used to render this portrait: A handsome, young man with a slender figure and athletic build. He has a "supercilious manner" and a "lithe tenacity" that suggests a natural athleticism. He has a "romantic readiness" and a "slightly changed voice," which suggests a certain charisma and charm. His face is "thin and ascetic," with a "cruel mouth" and "extraordinary eyes." He has a rugged, handsome appearance, but also a certain intensity that can be intimidating. A mysterious and enigmatic figure, and his physical appearance reflects this. Despite his youth and good looks, he carries an air of mystery and secrecy that adds to his allure and intrigue.
The protagonist, Santiago, from The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, as rendered by the description of Santiago by Hemingway, as culled by A.I. chatbot, ChatGPT. The results of which were then entered into the artificial intelligence art program Midjourney.
The description used to render this portrait: An Old fisherman very tan, with deep wrinkles etched into his face. His hands are "gnarled like the roots of a mangrove tree," and his eyes are "the same color as the sea." His body is "lean and sinewy," with "muscles that were as hard as a boy's." a man who is deeply connected to the sea and the natural world, and who has been shaped and hardened by years of physical labor and struggle. Render him in a simple, direct, and unadorned style to create a sense of realism to reflect the simplicity and stoicism of this man and to convey a sense of the raw, elemental nature of the sea and the life of a fisherman. The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks.
The protagonist, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, from The Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley, as rendered by the description of Easy Rawlins by Mosely, as culled by A.I. chatbot, ChatGPT. The results of which were then entered into the artificial intelligence art program Midjourney.
The description used to render this portrait: A portrait of a tall, dark-skinned man with a scar running down his right cheek. His skin was the color of coffee with cream, and his eyes are dark and lively. He is a private detective in 1940's Los Angeles. He is no hero. He is a killer when he has to be, and a thief when the money's good. He's a tall man with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He's six-foot-one-inch, two-hundred-pound black man with a mustache, a goatee, and a scar that runs from his left temple to his jaw.
The protagonist, Celie, from The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, as rendered by the description of Celie by Walker, as culled by A.I. chatbot, ChatGPT. The results of which were then entered into the artificial intelligence art program Midjourney.
The description used to render this portrait: A young, poor, African-American woman living in the South in the early 20th century. Fourteen years old and her face is not important. Here hands are long and thin and brown. Her face is a brown burn from the Georgia sun. She thinks she's ugly. Her father says she looks like a gorilla. Her mother says she's so ugly she makes her cry. She's big like a house. Her face is so skinny her eyes look like they bout to fall out. She has "brown" skin. Her perspective and her way of thinking show the impact of years of oppression on her self-esteem. The way she speaks about herself is not a reflection of her true beauty but rather how her inner thoughts and perception of herself have been affected by her past.
The protagonist, Offred, from The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood, as rendered by the description of Offred by Atwood, as culled by A.I. chatbot, ChatGPT. The results of which were then entered into the artificial intelligence art program Midjourney.
The description used to render this portrait: Portrait of a 33 year old woman wearing the red-and-white costume of the handmaids, the winged headdress, the white gloves. She is thirty-three years old. She has brown hair. She stands five seven without shoes. She is a national resource. Her eggs are valuable. She sees herself in the mirror with the white bonnet, the plain dress, the heavy boots. It is not herself she sees. She sees her own face, in the hooded white costume. The face is not my own, but someone else's who is also me. She has inner turmoil and oppression she is facing. She is a woman who is physically present but emotionally detached from her own body, her thoughts and feelings. She describes herself as a "national resource" and sees herself as a vessel for reproduction. She is forced to wear a specific uniform, the handmaid's attire, that dehumanizes her, objectifying her and limiting her individuality, making her feel like an object rather than a person.
Conclusions: One single creative intelligence whether artificial or human is made exponentially better via collaboration. The ChatGPT with its immense powers, when combined with the visual capabilities of Midjourney allow us to reach creative summits we cannot reach alone.
The A.I. will not kill creative jobs. The A.I. must be used creatively. It can be collaborated with to tell better stories, find new answers and render what lies dormant in the imaginations of the masses — this for good or ill. I am championing the positive and creative use of the inevitable.
And finally, this experiment is no different than what we do everyday at The Improvisor’s Mindset. We bring gifted, creative individuals in your organization and we give them the tools they need to drop their walls and work together more seamlessly. Leading to greater innovation. More new solutions and a super fun way to work together.
Please send your thoughts or inquiries for Leadership and Creativity workshops to us.
Dion@ImprovisorsMindset.com
Thank you.
Dion Flynn.
Dion@ImprovisorsMindset.com
ImprovisorsMindset.com
DionFlynn.com