“What is a Pure Soul?” It seems like a random question but that question led to the creation of an AI-art collection called “pure souls”.
It was an attempt to extract some creativity and undiscovered knowledge from AI.
In the process, I learnt a lot of about AI and creativity which I will share in this article.
my motivation
I have been a user of generative AI since the original hype train arrived with the launch of ChatGPT 3.5.
The LLM’s ability to produce human-like responses would interest anyone, but it particularly caught my attention. I became a what you call a “power user” after using it multiple times a day for extended period of time.
As you do with everything, you dig a bit deeper.
That led me to ask more philosophical questions.
what is a “pure soul”?
The idea of a pure soul is a complex one because it has a definition that varies by belief meaning there are various interpretations of it.
definition: A pure soul is typically seen as someone with a genuinely good and untainted character, free from selfishness, deceit, or harmful intentions.
It refers to a person or the soul of a person, if you believe in the soul, that is objectively “good”.
I began asking ChatGPT for more insight on the topic.
knowledge extraction
I was learning about the topic as though it was my job or it had been my life’s work. I asked about symbols of a pure soul and songs. Then, I decided to encapsulate the work by creating some images to reflect the AI’s idea of a pure soul.
These images would be generated using various image generation tools but primarily DALL-E 2. Then they would be altered and edited in Photoshop , Canva and I used various other tools to doctor the images. The main body of the images was generated by DALL-E 2 though.
Through generating the images, I was extracting the AI’s understanding of what a pure soul actually looks like. In reality, it is the world’s understanding of the topic but that is a conversation for another article.
Were they accurate representations? If not, what would be an accurate representation of a philosophical and arbitrary idea?
The research led to the creation of an AI-art collection called “pure souls”.
pure souls – the collection
The collection came out on March 31st 2023 and it is actually an ai-generated collection through and through.
That means while I put it together, the idea were not mine. I just followed the creative direction of the AI. Not to anthropomorphise it.
image 1: “blank mind/ swirly planet”
If you are a fan of Asycd, then you recognise the image from the black mind syndrome article.
The idea of blank mind was something closely associated with the characteristics of a pure soul.
No negative thoughts. No thoughts at all.
image 2: “i didn’t have a title for this one”
Writing this now, I have no idea what this had to do with pure souls but it looked nice.
Something I tried to do whilst collating the images was not be too picky. There was no right or wrong.
image 3: one = party
ChatGPT described a pure soul as someone who was all the energy in a social space. They was the party essentially.
Hence, the figure in the middle of the vibrant painting made sense.
image 4: “idk yet”
Purity is normally associated with children so the image reflected the carefree and fantastical nature of a child.
I wasn’t really a fan of this one but the AI knows best!
The whole collection can be viewed on the website. Click here.
the future of Creativity
I think it was an interesting experiment and made me realise that AI by itself is a only a tool.
The power of it comes from the user. If you have a topic you need to research, LLM’s with access to real-time data are second to none. Effective prompting for complex tasks means you can focus on the things that matter.
I think that in the future, artists, engineers and more will simply be AI directors. Using it to create all sorts of things only by their instruction. The kind of things you see in futuristic sci-fi movies. I think the “pure souls” collection was an example of that belief.
I look forward to creating and observing more AI-inspired projects.
