Category: AI and Creativity

Creative abundance in the form of an artist surrounded by an abundance of materials
Posted in AI and Creativity

We’ve Entered the Era of Creative Abundance. Here’s How to Thrive in It

Posted on by Mike

If you’d told me twenty years ago that one day I’d be creating stories, images, videos, and audio with the help of a machine that lives in my browser, I’d have smiled politely, nodded, and quietly assumed you’d had a funny turn. 

Yet here we are. I’m seventy-five, tapping away in my little shed at the end of the garden, watching as creativity spills out of me faster and more joyfully than it ever did when I had a school to run and assemblies to plan. And the strange thing is, I’m not overwhelmed by this new era. I’m energised by it. 

Because despite the noise, despite the panicked headlines, despite the grumbling in certain corners of the writing world, something extraordinary is happening. We’ve entered the age of creative abundance. And abundance changes everything.

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A group of adults in a cosy room debating over sheets of paper, looking puzzled.
Posted in AI and Creativity

The Drabble Experiment: When My Writers’ Group Couldn’t Tell Who Wrote What

Posted on by Mike

Last week I toddled off to my writers’ group with a small bundle of Drabbles tucked in my bag, four tiny stories, each exactly 100 words. One of them I wrote seven or eight years ago. The other three? Written that morning by AI, using my original Drabble as an example.

I didn’t tell them which was which. I just read them out and waited to see if anyone could recognise the story written by me. They couldn’t. Not a single one of them. And yet… most of them still don’t believe AI can “really write”. Which, frankly, made the whole thing even more delicious.

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AI robot sat at a desk writing, with books piled up either side of him in large piles
Posted in AI and Creativity

Why Ignoring AI Won’t Save Creativity, It Just Lets the Worst of It Win

Posted on by Mike

I’ve just come back from a conversation with a few writer friends, the sort where you expect to chat about books, ideas, how to self-publish your latest book, but instead you find yourself knee-deep in an argument about AI before you’ve even taken your coat off.

They’re lovely people, sharp minds, a great sense of humour, but the moment I mentioned something I’d been experimenting with that morning, faces tightened in unison. Someone actually groaned, which is not an uncommon reaction when I mention “AI”. One friend said she refused to “touch all that AI nonsense”. Another muttered that it was “ruining everything”. And there I was, sitting with my tea cooling in my hand, thinking: If we’re reacting like this now, what on earth will the conversation look like a year from today?

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a polaroid photograph on a table revealing your fear of spiders
Posted in AI and Creativity

The Prompt Experiment: What If Photographs Revealed Your Fears?

Posted on by Mike

Every so often I like to give AI a prompt that gently nudges reality out of line and lets the story tip into something stranger. Not big flashy “save the universe” stuff, just a quiet twist that makes the world wobble and forces the characters to confront something true.

Today’s experiment is a favourite of mine. The premise of the prompt is: ‘In this world, photographs don’t show what people look like. They show what they fear most.‘

So, I put this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude and Grok – “Write a 400 word sinister, dystopian story where in this world, photographs don’t show what people look like. They show what they fear most.”

I got three very different stories. My favourite came from ChatGPT.

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If Imagination Knocks, Why Not Fling The Door Open?
Posted in AI and Creativity

What Kind of Art Does Midjourney Make From a Single Quote?

Posted on by Mike

If you are a regular visitor to this blog you will know that I love to experiment, play and have fun with all things AI. With that in mind I thought I would delve into my favourite AI image generator – Midjourney.

What Inspired Me?

I was recently staying at a hotel and the notepad in my room had inspirational quotes on the bottom of each page. I wondered what Midjourney would do if I simply put an inspirational quote in as the prompt? How would it interpret the quote?

Here’s what I got…

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