5 ms·

Not that pen plotting and image vectorization isn’t cool, but where is the AI?

willswire 4y ago
Touché! I have to admit I assumed there was some level of data modeling/intelligence happening under the hood, but after reading the comments I now realize I was mistaken. I suppose a more accurate title would be “a robot drew my picture”
- MarcoZavala 4y ago
O__________O 4y ago
Agree, have not been able to find anything that indicates system is using any form of AI such as genetic algorithms, machine learning, etc. Even the artist when directly asked if it is AI related appears to answer that it is not; though oddly they repeatedly refer to it as being AI-based in their official artist statements. Here’s the excerpt from the interview were the artist states it is not AI: “Interviewer: Would it be fair to call this process artificial intelligence? Tresset: The term artificial intelligence is meaningless, or more precisely its meaning is fluctuating. Some people qualify this as artificial intelligence, I would not. I prefer to consider AI as a field of research, not as a thing.” Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/201703/the-artistic-side-artificial-intelligence?amp https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/201...
- CodeBeater 4y ago
  His replies make me reminisce the good old days when digital TV was first introduced in my native Brazil all the way back in 2007. It was most people's first contact with actual HD video (remember, DVD's were king back in the day with a resolution of 720x480). Suddenly, everything needed to be "digital"! You saw combination front-door locks being rebranded as "digital locks", ovens with a timer function being rebranded as "digital ovens", motion sensing faucets being sold as "digital faucets" (although this one specifically felt more like a hail mary to get those insufferable things some traction in the home market). You get the idea, any old regular household item that they could stick a piezo buzzer in there was trying to surf the hype wave. But my all time favorite was when they tried to rebrand video doorbells as "digital doorman's", which is ironic because it relied on 100% analog composite video. lol. The same thing happened again when Avatar (the movie) sparked the resurgence of 3D movies, with some companies being as desperate as releasing "3D White" toothpaste into the market. Fun times.
  - CodeBeater 4y ago
    I rambled on and forgot to make my point. My point is, maybe the same way those markets couldn't figure out the fact act of creating a "digital faucet" did not automatically made all the existing faucets "analog", this guy can't figure out that because he made a piece of software that can do things without being explicitly told what to do, does not automatically make it "AI".
atoav 4y ago
It is probably a play on the fact that the topic of AI has become somewhat a buzzword within the art world. The artist is basically making fun of people who don't even know what AI involves, but still celebrate works that claim AI involvement. A more unfavorable reading would be that they want some of the cake without putting in the legwork. But I think they are aware and want to hint toward the terms ambiguity in the popular (non-HN-crowd) perception. It is a bit like that orange juice company which added "blockchain" to their name: This tells you more about the term than about the company.
fxtentacle 4y ago
It's hiding in the PR statement.
- O__________O 4y ago
  Industry term is artist statement: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_statement https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_statement
throwawayffffas 4y ago
There is probably some face recognition going on.
- O__________O 4y ago
  Maybe, maybe not. My understanding is the background is plain, the chair is fixed position, person sitting does so for long periods like 20-40 mins, and the cameras/tables are manually adjusted by the artist. Simple cropping would work just fine.

Touché! I have to admit I assumed there was some level of data modeling/intelligence happening under the hood, but after reading the comments I now realize I was mistaken. I suppose a more accurate title would be “a robot drew my picture”

MarcoZavala 4y ago

O__________O 4y ago

Agree, have not been able to find anything that indicates system is using any form of AI such as genetic algorithms, machine learning, etc. Even the artist when directly asked if it is AI related appears to answer that it is not; though oddly they repeatedly refer to it as being AI-based in their official artist statements. Here’s the excerpt from the interview were the artist states it is not AI: “Interviewer: Would it be fair to call this process artificial intelligence? Tresset: The term artificial intelligence is meaningless, or more precisely its meaning is fluctuating. Some people qualify this as artificial intelligence, I would not. I prefer to consider AI as a field of research, not as a thing.” Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/201703/the-artistic-side-artificial-intelligence?amp https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/201...

CodeBeater 4y ago
His replies make me reminisce the good old days when digital TV was first introduced in my native Brazil all the way back in 2007. It was most people's first contact with actual HD video (remember, DVD's were king back in the day with a resolution of 720x480). Suddenly, everything needed to be "digital"! You saw combination front-door locks being rebranded as "digital locks", ovens with a timer function being rebranded as "digital ovens", motion sensing faucets being sold as "digital faucets" (although this one specifically felt more like a hail mary to get those insufferable things some traction in the home market). You get the idea, any old regular household item that they could stick a piezo buzzer in there was trying to surf the hype wave. But my all time favorite was when they tried to rebrand video doorbells as "digital doorman's", which is ironic because it relied on 100% analog composite video. lol. The same thing happened again when Avatar (the movie) sparked the resurgence of 3D movies, with some companies being as desperate as releasing "3D White" toothpaste into the market. Fun times.
- CodeBeater 4y ago
  I rambled on and forgot to make my point. My point is, maybe the same way those markets couldn't figure out the fact act of creating a "digital faucet" did not automatically made all the existing faucets "analog", this guy can't figure out that because he made a piece of software that can do things without being explicitly told what to do, does not automatically make it "AI".

atoav 4y ago

It is probably a play on the fact that the topic of AI has become somewhat a buzzword within the art world. The artist is basically making fun of people who don't even know what AI involves, but still celebrate works that claim AI involvement. A more unfavorable reading would be that they want some of the cake without putting in the legwork. But I think they are aware and want to hint toward the terms ambiguity in the popular (non-HN-crowd) perception. It is a bit like that orange juice company which added "blockchain" to their name: This tells you more about the term than about the company.

fxtentacle 4y ago

It's hiding in the PR statement.

O__________O 4y ago
Industry term is artist statement: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_statement https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_statement

throwawayffffas 4y ago

There is probably some face recognition going on.

O__________O 4y ago
Maybe, maybe not. My understanding is the background is plain, the chair is fixed position, person sitting does so for long periods like 20-40 mins, and the cameras/tables are manually adjusted by the artist. Simple cropping would work just fine.