To bring my identity into the digital realm, I used DeviantArt’s DreamUp, an AI program that allows users to generate digital artwork by providing various prompts. The platform provided a blend of artistic realism and fantasy, enabling me to experiment with different representations of myself across multiple personas.
https://www.deviantart.com/dreamup
I began by inputting detailed prompts based on my real-life experiences, hobbies, and passions. I started with my identity as a competitive swimmer—a role I’ve embraced for over 15 years. The prompt was simple: “female with sleeve tattoos and long black hair who is a competitive swimmer in a pool.” However, the AI’s response leaned heavily into hyper-sexualized representations, often placing me in bikinis rather than portraying me as an athlete.
Next, I experimented with my identity as a female rock singer. Using a fantasy-based prompt, I created an image of myself as the frontwoman of a heavy metal band. This iteration captured my persona more authentically, aligning with my love for rock and metal music, especially in my involvement with Classic Albums Live and the development of Breaking Pointe, my heavy metal ballet.
One of the biggest challenges was how the AI interpreted my requests. While some outputs accurately represented me, others missed the mark—especially when it came to the portrayal of women in sports. AI often defaults to societal stereotypes, and even advanced tools like DreamUp struggle to break free from these biases.
In the digital age, how we present ourselves online has become a blend of reality and performance. When I looked at my AI-generated images, I realized that my digital self is more a curated performance than a true representation. As Shakespeare once wrote, "All the world’s a stage," and in this digital age, the stage is set on platforms like DeviantArt, Instagram, and TikTok.
Ethical and Cultural Dimensions
As much as AI offers creative possibilities, it also raises important ethical questions. For instance, while trying to create a swimmer identity, the AI often defaulted to hypersexualized imagery (see image below), which is not only frustrating but also troubling from a gender representation perspective. This reflects a wider issue in digital media—where women, in particular, face pressure to conform to beauty standards that emphasize physicality over skill or intelligence.
The use of AI-generated selfies also brings up questions about privacy. These tools rely on uploading personal photos, which might not always be safeguarded adequately. As we interact more with digital tools, questions of ownership and data security loom larger, especially as AI tools evolve and become more integrated into our online presence.
Transliteracy Reflection
Transforming my academic analysis into a blog post required thinking about accessibility. The original paper, with its focus on AI selfies and identity utilized theory while discussing concepts like self-representation and performance. But to make this content relatable to a broader audience, I had to distill these complex ideas into a more digestible format.
For instance, my exploration of digital identity and curation took center stage in the blog. I focused on how AI tools like DeviantArt’s DreamUp shape the final product by blending real identity with artistic filters. Drawing from McLuhan’s idea that “the medium is the message,” I realized that the platform I chose significantly impacted the identity I could create, making the AI tool itself a key part of the message.
Multimodal Enhancements
To make my blog post more engaging, I’ve included images of the AI-generated selfies I created, showing different facets of my identity. From the athletic swimmer to the gothic Victorian artist, these images offer a playful yet profound look at how I represent myself online.
- Competitive Swimmer: A glimpse of how my athletic side was interpreted.
- Female Rock Singer: A digital performance of my musical identity.
- Sleeve Tattoos & Pomeranian: An exploration of my playful side with an artistic twist.
- Leader of a Marketing Company: The transformation of my workspace into an aspirational setting.
- Gothic Victorian Artist: A stylized version reflecting my literary and artistic passions.
AI has allowed me to explore facets of myself I may not have thought of before, yet it also highlights the biases that come with digital self-representation. Moving forward, we must critically engage with these tools, considering the ethical implications of AI-generated content and how it shapes our perceptions of authenticity and identity.
As AI continues to evolve, so will our understanding of digital identity. These tools offer endless possibilities for creative expression, but they also challenge us to think about how we perform our identities online, the biases embedded in these technologies, and the ethical questions surrounding privacy and control over our digital selves.
Creating AI-generated selfies was more than just a fun experiment—it was a journey of self-discovery in the digital age. These images, while not entirely true to life, offer an artistic representation of who I am and how I see myself. They highlight the fluid, constructed nature of online identity and offer new ways to represent myself in the vast digital landscape. I look forward to continuing this exploration and seeing how these tools evolve to better reflect the diversity and complexity of human identity.
References
Dezuanni, M., et al. (2022). Digital media, cultural production, and speculative capitalism: The uncertain promise of social media. Routledge.
Hunter, E. (2022). The rise of AI-generated portraits: Redefining digital identity. Journal of Digital Media Studies, 14(2), 123-140.
Lazard, L., & Capdevila, R. (2019). Performing the digital self: Identity construction on social media. New Media & Society, 21(7), 1643-1660.
Liu, S., et al. (2018). The power of selfies: Social media and the construction of identity. Journal of Visual Culture, 17(1), 5-22.
Shakespeare, W. (2004). As you like it (B. A. Mowat & P. Werstine, Eds.). Folger Shakespeare Library; Simon & Schuster.
Tiidenberg, K. (2017). Selfies, identity, and social media. Palgrave Macmillan.
Comments
Post a Comment