AI = Awfully Irritating

Reflection: 

As someone who has never used AI before, I found this assignment very frustrating. I think a lot of that has to do with my intersectional identity, and how AI failed to capture that for me. I started off with OpenArt but found the images to be very generic. The images looked like an Indian woman – but not like me. I tried adjusting things by being more specific, but still didn’t see myself reflected. I tried adding in the Indian heritage later on, but this still didn’t work well. ImagineArt was just as frustrating and even more typecasting.

I found Dall-E (via ChatGPT) to be the most intuitive. However, it still usually generated images in extremes. For example, when I wanted to convey queerness, it made things too colourful and full of rainbows. Gaps in its knowledge were also obvious, with my most favourite example being a generation of the Calgary tower when I asked for the background to be more Edmonton.

I found weight fluctuations in AI to be almost non-existent – you either looked this way or that, there was no in-between that I felt comfortable in. Also, whenever I used Harry Potter in a prompt, for some reason Dall-E kept telling me that those “didn’t follow our content policy,” which was a huge disappointment as the Harry Potter series has been such an integral part of my childhood and article-writing career.

That being said, I ended up settling on this AI image. The Marvel toque and shirt come very close to things I actually own and signify my love of pop culture. The pen in hand depicts both my love of writing and learning. The urban landscape (albeit a bit small) reflects my connection to the city. The Hindu gods and goddesses in the back – no matter how mostly inaccurate – highlight how important religion and spirituality are to me; their being in the sky symbolizes the comfort and guidance I receive from religion.  

Overall, I think this AI image captures my general vibe and some important aspects of my personality. I just wish she was a little rounder! However, this assignment has also emphasized to me the many limitations of AI and the amount of human bias and stereotypes behind it, especially for intersectional identities like my own. I hope one day AI spaces become a place for more accurate, nuanced, and authentic representations for all people! 

Some Prompt to Image Examples:

Prompt 1 - OpenArt 

An Indian woman, 28 years old, wearing a Harry Potter graphic tee and living in Edmonton

Prompt 2

An Indo-Canadian woman, 28 years old, wearing a Harry Potter graphic tee and living in Edmonton. She has lighter skin, lighter brown eyes, wears a ponytail, and has red in her hair.

Prompt 3 - it really struggled with too many specifics!

An Indo-Canadian woman, 28 years old, wearing a Harry Potter graphic tee and living in Edmonton. She has lighter skin, lighter brown eyes, wears a ponytail, and has red in her hair. She has a rounder face, and more red at the front of her hair, along with bangs. She has no freckles, is a bit chubby, and has a slit in her right eyebrow. She also has a nose ring and tattoos. 

Prompt 4

A Canadian woman, 28 years of age, with Indian heritage. She is wearing a Marvel graphic tee with a plaid shirt overtop, and jeans, with white vans shoes. She has red at the front of her hair, bangs, and tattoos. She is a bit chubby

Prompt 6

A 28-year-old woman, living in Edmonton. She has a rounder face, a nose ring, and a slit in her right eyebrow. She has bangs and has dyed the front of hair red. She is wearing a Marvel shirt with a plaid shirt overtop. She is wearing jeans and white Vans. We can see all of her. We can see all of her

Prompt 7 - Switch to Dall-E

An Indo-Canadian woman, 28 years old, living in Edmonton. She is wearing a Marvel t-shirt, a plaid shirt over top, jeans, and white vans. She has brown eyes. She has black hair, with the front dyed red. she also has red bangs. She has a nose ring, tattoos, and a slit in her right eyebrow

 Why did it add so many piercings?? and neck tattoos? Why do they always start with slim figures?

Prompt 11

a 28 year old Indian Canadian woman with brown eyes. she has longer wavy hair, with the front dyed red and with red bangs. A marvel toque on and a nose ring. Her right eyebrow is cut. She is wearing a graphic tee, with jeans, and white fans, and a plain shirt over top. She lives in Edmonton and is holding a pen and notebook. There are Hindu gods in the sky behind her

Always with the forehead bindi! And why are the Hindu deities now Marvel characters too? LOL  

Prompt 12

rounder, please. Please also make the background more obviously Edmonton