Em Septembera Getty Images launched his own image generator with Artificial Intelligence in partnership with NVIDIA, seeking to offer tools for creating exclusive and commercially safe images. But how can brands and the media visualize the concept of generative AI itself? In 2022, the experts in visual content from Getty Images identified the need for visual representations of AI that are more grounded and centered on the human experience, moving away from the robots and abstract waves of data that were popular in the past.
In 2023, the exponential progress and availability of generative AI technology has completely changed the conversation, as generative text and image tools allow us to see this emerging technology in action, before our eyes.
The aesthetics created by and in reaction to these tools are still developing. The well-known meme of Pope Francis in a puffy white coat, the strange Harry Potter x Balenciaga video, and the fake songs from rapper Drake are probably just the beginning of a series of relatively harmless (for now) examples of synthetic media popular.
Meanwhile, choosing visuals that represent this new evolution of AI requires a nuanced understanding of cultural conversations, consumer sentiment, and current aesthetics.Below, I list two tips for creating visual metaphors for generative AI in an authentic and innovative way:
Show human presence and control over AI tools
From international moves to halt AI research to work stoppages in the U.S. film and television industries, public opinion about AI’s place in business and society is controversial. Data from our research VisualGPS show that from summer 2022 (42%) to summer 2023 (49%), people became increasingly nervous about AI as concerns about potential job losses and misinformation grew. Even so, the majority of global consumers (82%) are still excited about the possibility of generative AI helping them be more productive, considering the potential of tools that simplify processes such as digital research, virtual assistance and design.
When choosing visual concepts to represent generative AI, it is important to communicate the idea that these tools are in our hands and that we, as a society, can choose how and why we use them. Particularly as new themes such as creativity, transformation, and autonomy are introduced into visual representations of AI in general, consider visualizing human presence or control in AI concepts. Authentic photographs and videos showing humans using digital apps or tools work, although this idea can also be expressed metaphorically, showing a human or an analog tool, such as a paintbrush, in control of the production or transformation of results. digital.
Over the past decade, aesthetics have changed to follow the course of our technology-enabled lives. Previously, technology was seen as futuristic, often leaning towards a dystopian style with a science fiction look, which symbolized machines as sinister devices of control. As computing power has been placed in the hands of people across the planet, visual representations have become softer, friendlier, and more hopeful.
Work with a variable color palette
If we travel back in time, technology-related visuals tend to follow certain conventions: rectilinear shapes, cold blue lights, codes that appear like a mysterious language system, and endless impenetrable server rooms. The influence was certainly derived from popular science fiction films, from the command systems with green and black characters to Matrix even the gray and blue visuals of Minority Report.
However, these dystopian views of technology, which emphasize control rooted in white male institutional power, have given way to a new vision that is more feminine (or gender fluid) and less threatening, represented by a shift in the use of color. In 2022, visuals related to technology, from games to artificial intelligence, and to the metaversion, began to move away from dark and unfriendly colors such as blue, green and black, and moved towards softer lighting in pink and purple.
This color change has been a long time coming. The references refer to the style neonoir cyberpunkwith its bright neon details, as well as the Vaporwave and Synthwave movements, which directly reference the colors and shapes of the 80s. Visual artists such as James Turrell, known for his immersive and perceptually challenging light compositions, have influenced major pop musicians (watch Drake’s Hotline Bling music video), and these lighting styles have found their way into more media and brands.
A bisexual lighting found in the clip Dirty Computer, by Janelle Monenot episode San Junipero of Black Mirror (arguably the least dystopian vision of the future represented in the series), the colorful styles of Euphoria, HBO’s Gen Z drama, and the recent resurgence of Y2K iridescence and rave culture move away from harsh blue light and into the possibilities of pastel pink and purple. These colors are somewhere between the real, that is, what occurs naturally, and the supernatural, bringing to mind a space for imaginative and playful play.
However, even with this color change, most of the images that brands are using to represent AI in 2023 are still very dark: many show black backgrounds, nighttime environments or scary server rooms. These dark visual choices convey to the viewer that there is now more mystery, uncertainty, and unknowns surrounding AI. While all of this is technically true, brands that are integrating AI into their business models may want to consider whether they are doing so responsibly and, if so, project a more optimistic outlook.
When choosing visuals related to generative AI and its new uses, consider moving away from the blue and dark green of science fiction with black background aesthetics and opting for bright, fresh tertiary color palettes: think magenta, teal, lime , violet, yellow-orange.This palette, which has become synonymous with emerging technology thanks to several Web3 projects, accurately indicates that we are entering a new era of technological development. And although we don’t yet know what the results will be, these colors at least suggest that it could be exciting.
* This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Adnews
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