My AI selfie journey
From the start of this course, I was intrigued and excited
to expand and enrich my existing understanding about transliterate spaces and digital
literacy. Beginning the experience with an AI-generated selfie provided
insights into both the capabilities and current limitations of artificial
intelligence platforms. I also gained insight into the long history of digital
literacy, stretching back to Manovich’s overview of new media in the 1800s and
his examination of how machines evolved from looms to computers1.
I began my AI selfie generation journey experimenting with
Open Art which used DALL-E which illustrated its inability to inject the
context and nuance of my prompts. In my view, it was a shortfall in the
technology that led me to experiment further with Chat GPT Images. Even through
multiple rounds of prompts in Chat GPT, I didn’t get an image I felt reflected myself.
Did the AI selfie look or feel like me?
I didn’t feel the AI selfie I created didn’t look like me
but acknowledge it included characteristics I could identify with, and I
believe others would see a likeness of me in it.
The evolution of my AI selfie creation (ChatGPT Images, 2026) and the final image of what I actually look like:
Daily, we see that AI is a tool growing in acceptance and
use across all technology platforms. For me, it’s a tool that can complete tasks
efficiently but still requires human intervention to create accurate and
authentic content.
As we moved through the modules and readings learning more
about how humans interact with the tools, one of the lessons I took away from Wu,
J., et al2. was that humans improves the quality of the data
generated.
Identity was one of the most profound concepts for me
through this course. I was especially interested in how Tatum Hunter3
shared the start with Lensa and people engaging with generated images assessing
and being critical about how they looked which started a space where being an imperfect
image of ourselves (but our reality) wasn’t good enough. The creation of the “anime”
or “fairy princess” images took a step further in removing our realistic
images. As social media has grown and expanded over the past 20 years, we see the
proliferation across platforms providing filters and mechanisms to share,
engage and compare to others.
Are we going to be ok in the future?
The growth of comparison to others, evolved into creating other
ethical and cultural concerns when learned about the impacts on self-esteem and
body concerns, which remains a societal issue today4. The fact that being
a “social media influencer” is a job that didn’t exist 20 years ago, showcases
the engagement that content receives when it’s been filtered or proposed in a
way that makes people feel accepted and liked. Who knows what careers in this field
will look like in another 20 years.
So much of this course connected with me more than I
expected but the content about self-representation and the impact of
ephemerality within social channels were strongest. The selfie project allowed me to contemplate how
digital media and social media shape identity in a concerning way – feel less
confident, lower self-esteem, etc. Throughout the misinformation module, I second-guessed
whether what I’m hearing or seeing is even true. It caused me to feel like I
need to be more contemplative, critical and accountable to information I read
and how I choose to internalize or share it.
We’re in this together!
Overall, the takeaways from this course caused me to be skeptical
in some ways about digital spaces and content shared through tools such as
social media. The injects and elements are endless, so we need to determine
what’s important for us to learn and what we need to question. Gone are the
days of the trusted and reliable sources. It now requires the human interaction
of our own minds to give us that comfort.
Sources:
Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Mit Press.
Wu, J., et al. (2021). Recursively summarising books with
human feedback. arXiv preprint. https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.10862
Hunter, Tatum. (2022). Ai selfies are flooding your feed.
Here is what to know about Lensa.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/08/lensa-ai-portraits/.
Kim, D., & Kim, S. "Social Media Affordances of
Ephemerality and Permanence: Social Comparison, Self-Esteem, and Body Image
Concerns." Social Sciences, 12(2), 87 (2023).
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