In dystopian visions of the future where technology has surpassed humanity, our robot overlords are usually rounding us up for the slaughter or plugging our enslaved brains into simulated realities. Creating fascinating impressionist artworks isn’t usually a task they set their circuits too.
However, as it turns out, artificial intelligence is already giving humankind a run for its money when it comes to creating art. Given a few abstract prompts, AI art generators can create original digital "paintings" in a matter of seconds, and far from being cold, unfeeling renderings, the works produced are often vibrant, astute and surprisingly beautiful.
So, what does AI come up with when Australia’s biggest metropolises are its muse? How does it see the streets of the cities us fleshy meat sacks walk every day? Thanks to an online tool called CLIP+VQ-GAN, the ABC has come up with a pretty compelling answer. This free-to-access AI engine, which uses two neural networks (CLIP and VQ-GAN) made of complex algorithms designed to mimic a human brain, takes text prompts to source images from the internet before processing them using techniques inspired by historically significant artists. The system can comb as many as 400 million images in a matter of seconds to create totally original artworks that are uncannily creative in their composition. The technology is the brainchild of an American computer engineer, 23-year-old Ryan Murdock, who devised the system as part of his PhD studies in cognition and neuroscience.
'Melbourne cafe in the style of Giotto' | Image: ABC/CLIP+VQ-GAN
If you can forget for a moment that they are the product of an electronic equation, these are emotional, provocative, insightful artworks. Whether this more ineffable quality is something consciously achieved by the artificial artist or something we as thinking, feeling beings overlay on our own is for philosophers to ponder. All we know is, we wouldn’t complain about having these machine-made masterpieces hanging on our wall.
'Sydney traffic jam in the style of Rembrandt' | Image: ABC/CLIP+VQ-GAN
'Film noir set in Sydney' | Image: ABC/CLIP+VQ-GAN
'Bondi love story' | Image: ABC/CLIP+VQ-GAN
Read the full story behind these remarkable works of AI art from the ABC, including images of Perth, Alice Springs and Adelaide, here.