My exploration into the intersection of photography and AI began with early AI generators such as VQGAN+CLIP and NightCafe's "artistic" mode. As a painter, I was captivated by the results that skillfully balanced the figurative and the abstract - an aesthetic I often strive for as an artist. When I first experimented with DALL-E last summer, I was initially put off by its seemingly flawless output. However, as I discovered ways to harness its potential in the creation of a series of absurdist film stills, I became hooked. This experience gave birth to my project titled "Sentient Muppet Factory."

Inspiration for the project stemmed from a talk I attended by Laurie Anderson, who used puppets as an analogy for new technologies. Imagining my AI-generated images as part of a late 1970s variety show, I began to develop the concept of “Sentient Muppet Factory.” Although the title humorously references AI discourse - as these muppets are not truly sentient - the term "factory" speaks to the mechanized production facilitated by AI, as I churn out new characters in a seemingly automated manner.

All the pieces in this series were generated using a bank of images stored on my computer, primarily consisting of the early NightCafe pieces, along with a few photos of myself in my studio. Purposefully utilizing disparate source imagery from the text prompts, I aimed to provoke an unsettling result, intentionally confusing the AI into responding in unconventional ways.

Sentient Muppet Factory #49

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Sentient Muppet Factory

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Description

Daily.xyz - Post Photographic Perspectives II: Acceptable Realities is DAILY's second group show celebrating a new wave of innovation in AI video and photography.

Inspiration for Sentient Muppet Factory stemmed from a talk I attended by Laurie Anderson, who used puppets as an analogy for new technologies. Imagining my AI-generated images as part of a late 1970s variety show, I began to develop the concept of “Sentient Muppet Factory.” Although the title humorously references AI discourse - as these muppets are not truly sentient - the term "factory" speaks to the mechanized production facilitated by AI, as I churn out new characters in a seemingly automated manner.

All the pieces were generated using a bank of images stored on my computer, primarily consisting of the early NightCafe pieces, along with a few photos of myself in my studio. Purposefully utilizing disparate source imagery from the text prompts, I aimed to provoke an unsettling result.

Artist

Beth Frey

Blockchain

Ethereum

Token standard

ERC-721

Contract address

0xf6...8721

Token

Beth Frey

Sentient Muppet Factory #49

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