I can barely make a PowerPoint presentation on my computer, but artist Chris Rodley uses his to transform flowers into dinosaurs. Rodley produced the image series using a clever neural network, and it not only looks like a cool promotional campaign to make children eat their veggies, but deserves a spot on the walls of modern art galleries as well.
A neural network is a computational model based on the structure of a biological neural network. In other words, it's a digital version of the human brain. Conventional computer software operates within strict parameters but artificial neural networks have the ability to "learn" while working with more and more data over time.
To create this specific series, Rodley dabbled with a website called Deepart.io. This 'digital human brain' model applies one visual style to another image, preserving recognizable details and features, and uses them to rebuild the target image from scratch.
"I guess the common thread in all of this is the idea not of using new tech to tell stories, but of using tech to tell new stories," the artist/PhD student writes on his website.
Rodley's flowered dinosaurs are probably the best examples of the software. His tweet about the AI-generated prehistoric beasts has already been retweeted more than 14,000 times and liked more than 32,000 times.
Chris used the algorithm to form dinosaurs from other objects as well
