Butterfly Becomes Bird — An AI Metamorphisis

Creating art with an AI is every bit as involving and deliberate as painting with a brush or creating a unique photograph. The creative capabilities of AI challenge our minds to dig deep into the nature of our own thoughts.

The Butterfly

The other morning, stumbling in the general direction of the coffee pot, I spied a beautiful butterfly resting on the kitchen floor. Of course, I whipped out my camera and properly documented its visit.

Science, according to Peanuts

Many days later, thinking of that butterfly reminded me of my favorite science lesson from the comic strip Peanuts. To paraphrase, Lucy instructs Linus, “See this tiny butterfly Linus — someday it will grow up to be a mighty eagle.” I wondered what kind of a bird my lovely butterfly might become.

Creating with the AI

I turned to one of my best AI assistants in residence, DreamStudio(DS), to help me illuminate my dream. For the next who knows how many hours, DS and I enjoyed a marvelous, humorous, and mind-bending trip. Here is how it went:

First, you need to know that I have a variety of ways to tell DS what I want it to do. All AI image assistants are different, but this is how DS works.

1. First, I give DS a text prompt, like “imagine a…