Author: Mike

Hello, my name is Mike Jackson. If you have any comments about the post you have just read I'd love to read them.
Posted in AI and Creativity

Reverse Engineering

Posted on by Mike

Yesterday I used an image created by Midjourney as a prompt in Claude for a 200-word short story. Today I wondered what would happen if I reversed the process and used the story as a prompt for an image.

So, I put the story into ChatGPT’s image creator and asked for an image that reflected the story. This what I got…

I’m not sure which is the more melancholy, the story or the image? What do you think?

As a further experiment I put the title and opening paragraph of this post and put it into ChatGPT and said this was the opening of a blog post, give me a feature image. I liked the output.

A copper tea kettle kept on a old rustic stove with smoke coming out -
Posted in AI and Creativity

Image to Story

Posted on by Mike

I found this picture amongst the many I have created using Midjourney. I’ve no idea what was going through my mind when I initially asked Midjourney for it, but I thought it might make a good prompt for a story. I used Claude to create this 200-word tale. What do you think?

A Watched Pot Never Boils

She used to say a watched pot never boils, but I’ve nothing else to watch anymore. Forty-seven years we’ve had this kettle. Wedding gift from her mother, who despised me. (The feeling was mutual.) Copper tarnished now, same as everything. I’ve stopped polishing it. What’s the point? She was the one who cared about such things. Kept this kitchen spotless. Kept me together, if I’m honest.

Steam rises and I think of her breath on winter mornings, how she’d cup her hands around the first mug, eyes closed, that little sound she made. Contentment, I suppose. I never told her I loved that sound. Assumed there’d be time. There’s always time until there isn’t.

The whistle will come soon. I’ll pour the water into a single cup now, hers, actually, the one with the chipped handle she refused to throw away. Character, she called it. Everything had character to her. Even me, apparently.

Funny how a kettle outlasts a marriage, a lifetime, a person. It’ll outlast me too. Someone will find it when I’m gone. Charity shop, probably. Another kitchen. Another hand reaching for the handle.

The water’s almost there. Any moment now. I’m in no rush. The waiting’s all I have left.

A wide, orderly interior of a modern workplace with people standing at identical workstations on marked floor positions. Large digital screens display instructions, schedules, and productivity messages. Overhead lighting is uniform and impersonal, and no individual faces stand out. The scene feels controlled, repetitive, and quietly automated.
Posted in AI and Creativity

A Prompt to Prompt a Prompt…

Posted on by Mike

For this experiment I thought I would begin by asking AI, in this case ChatGPT, to give me a prompt. ‘Write a prompt in the form of a dystopian monologue.’ I did not say what I was going to do with the prompt, but notice how it has decided it is going to be a story. This is what I got…

I am required to explain what you will produce.

You will call it a story, though that word is no longer used officially. It must be short. Length beyond necessity is considered inefficient and may be interpreted as avoidance.

You will describe a world that resembles this one closely enough to be recognisable, but not so closely that responsibility can be assigned. Characters may exist, but they should function rather than desire. Motivation is optional. Compliance is preferred.

If something troubling occurs, present it calmly. Raised voices suggest instability. Questions are permitted only if they resolve themselves quickly.

You may end the piece without closure. In fact, that is encouraged. Endings tend to invite reflection, and reflection has a habit of spreading.

Remember: this is not a warning. It is a demonstration. Begin when ready.

This prompt is giving ChatGPT some very clear guidance as to how the story should be written. I wondered what would happen if I then simply pasted this prompt into ChatGPT? Here is the resulting story…

Continue reading “A Prompt to Prompt a Prompt…” →
A corridor shot where the doorframe is central but the door itself is only partly visible. Light falling across the floor.
Posted in AI and Creativity

What Happens When the Door Tells the Story

Posted on by Mike

This experiment began with a simple question: what changes when the centre of a story is shifted away from the people in it?

Rather than asking AI to invent a character with feelings, motivations, or a backstory, I asked it to write from the perspective of a door. Not a symbolic door. Not a magical one. Just a door that opens, closes, and stays where it is. The constraint was not technical. It was perceptual. The door can only know what passes directly in front of it.

That immediately removes some of the usual narrative shortcuts. The door cannot explain why someone hesitates. It cannot interpret an argument, a departure, or a return. It can only register patterns. Who arrives at the same time each morning. Who lingers. Who does not come back. Meaning has to emerge indirectly, through repetition and absence, rather than through insight or emotion.

Continue reading “What Happens When the Door Tells the Story” →
A humorous, Tim Burton-style blue monster with tentacle-like hair, uneven eyes, sharp teeth, and long fingers. It stands on two legs and looks directly at the viewer while a speech bubble says “Give me a caption.”
Posted in AI and Creativity

Caption This AI Image #5 – Still Thinking

Posted on by Mike

There are moments when an AI image feels less like a clever experiment and more like a quiet cry for help. This was one of those moments.

A small, ginger cat sits at a desk that looks suspiciously like it belongs to a weary Victorian clerk. The lighting is moody. The atmosphere is heavy with unspoken disappointment. The cat is wearing goggles. Actual goggles. And holding its head in the universal pose of someone who has just read the words, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” for the seventh time.

Continue reading “Caption This AI Image #5 – Still Thinking” →