Category: AI and Creativity

cartoon caricature of a small group of people, talking animatedly, looking skeptical, some with crossed arms
Posted in AI and Creativity

Writing With AI When Your Friends Don’t Approve

Posted on by Mike

There is a moment every writer meets sooner or later, often accompanied by the same slightly embarrassed smile. Someone asks what you are working on, and you mention that you use AI in your writing. You expect curiosity or at least a raised eyebrow. Instead, you get a faint wince. A gentle pullback. A polite cough followed by a change of subject. You can almost hear the unspoken verdict forming in their mind. It feels a little like turning up to a book club with a sandwich when everyone else has brought a homemade quiche.

Continue reading “Writing With AI When Your Friends Don’t Approve” →
Posted in AI and Creativity

The Latest AI Image Generator From ChatGPT

Posted on by Mike

I don’t know about you but whenever something new and exciting appears on the AI scene I simply have to play with it. Yet again I found myself disappearing down that rabbit hole I talked about in my ver first post on The AI Grandad.

This time it was all to do with AI generated images. Today, ChatGPT released its latest AI generator and it is truly amazing. So, I thought I would share some of my first, simple experiments with it.

The AI Grandad

Because I chat with ChatGPT all the time it knows a lot about The AI Grandad blog and me. So, my first experiment was to prompt – ‘Create a doodle of The AI Grandad‘

Then I simply asked ChatGPT to ‘Turn it into a photo.’

Then the prompt was, ‘Turn the background into the interior of my shed with bookcases and a desk with a computer, have grandad sat at the desk.’

Notice how ChatGPT has kept the original design of The AI Grandad the same throughout. Impressive.

Playing With Text

AI image generators have always had a problem with text, or at least with text that made sense. For my next experiment the prompt was, ‘Put this short story on a single page of an open book, “Poetry is now a medical condition. Those who arrange words strangely are treated gently, sedated softly, corrected thoroughly. I keep a poem hidden in my mouth, repeating it silently so it doesn’t forget me first.” Include an appropriate sketch’

The short story was one I had recently posted on X.

I thought the sketch was great and I had said no more than ‘include an appropriate sketch’. GPT determined what this should look like.

I was intrigued as to just how ChatGPT would interpret messages, stories etc. My next experiment was to ask, ‘Create an image to go with this quote “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Include the quote at the bottom of the page. Portrait aspect.’

With the next prompt I was asking ChatGPT to do some research and create an image. ‘Create an image based on the poem Jabberwocky. Include the first verse.’

You can’t always rely on AI to be accurate. I checked the first verse of Jabberwocky and ChatGPT got it spot on.

Editing Images

This new AI image generator also does a great job of editing images. Either ones you upload or ones you create. I created this family photo taken in Times Square, New York.

Then I got ChatGPT to change the clothes and background for a Winter holiday.

…and the for an exciting holiday on a distant planet!

A Call To Thought

I’m off down my rabbit hole for more playful, creative experimenting. Why don’t you join me.

About The AI Grandad

Find out more about The AI Grandad on:
YouTube – The AI Grandad
X – The AI Grandad
Facebook – Mike Jackson – The AI Grandad

What do you think AI creativity tells us about ourselves?
Share your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing from curious minds!

An AI hand with a fountain pen nib on one finger writing a story.
Posted in AI and Creativity

Two Images, Two Captions, Two Stories

Posted on by Mike

In our first ‘Give This AI Image a Caption’, one of our readers, Valerie, responded with the caption for this image, ‘The Internet is Down’.

A surreal, Tim Burton-style illustration showing a nervous stick-figure person surrounded by four bizarre, wide-eyed monsters: a black spiky one, a red blobby one, and two blue creatures — one offering a steaming cup. All appear to be staring at the central figure.

The following week’s ‘Give This AI Image a Caption’ post contained this image and Kieran gave us the caption, ‘He Played For an Audience Long Gone’.

A young child in worn, old-fashioned clothing sits in a doorway of a crumbling building, gently playing an aged violin as soft light falls across them.

So, I decided to use both images and captions as prompts for ChatGPT. In both cases I asked for a 200-word story. Here are those stories:

Continue reading “Two Images, Two Captions, Two Stories” →
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

Give This AI Image a Caption #2 – The Song Only He Can Hear

Posted on by Mike

I was browsing through my AI images this week when I stumbled across this one, and it stopped me cold. There’s something achingly beautiful about it. Quiet. Tender. Almost ghostly. The sort of picture that feels like it already contains a story, if only we lean in close enough to hear it.

I won’t tell you what I see. That would get in the way. Instead, I’ll let you sit with it for a moment and see what it stirs in you.

Here it is.

A young child in worn, old-fashioned clothing sits in a doorway of a crumbling building, gently playing an aged violin as soft light falls across them.

The light, the dust, the decay, the expression… every element feels like it’s whispering something. Is this a moment of hope? Loneliness? Magic? Memory? Survival? A lullaby to the past or a plea to the future?

Whatever it is, it’s begging for words. And that’s where you come in.

Your Turn, Caption This Image

Give me your best caption in the comments. It can be:

  • wistful
  • poetic
  • mysterious
  • uplifting
  • heartbreaking
  • or something entirely unexpected

There’s no right or wrong way to interpret it, just your imagination meeting the image halfway.

Next week, I’ll share a selection of my favourite captions, and I might even try weaving one or two into a tiny story.

A Closing Thought

Every so often, an AI image arrives that feels less like a picture and more like a doorway. This one made me wonder about the power of quiet moments — the ones that happen when nobody’s watching, when the world falls away, and someone creates something just because they must.

So… what do you think this child is playing? And who, or what, is the music for?

About The AI Grandad

Find out more about The AI Grandad on:
YouTube – The AI Grandad
X – The AI Grandad
Facebook – Mike Jackson – The AI Grandad

What do you think AI creativity tells us about ourselves?
Share your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing from curious minds!

A warm garden shed studio at golden hour, with a desk, open notebooks and a glowing laptop releasing colourful ribbons of creative energy, sketches and musical notes drifting towards a bright sunset.
Posted in AI and Creativity

The Creative Renaissance No One Saw Coming (And Why It’s Just Getting Started)

Posted on by Mike

There’s a moment, every so often, when history quietly changes direction and most of us don’t notice because we’re too busy doing other things. The printing press began as a technical curiosity long before it became a cultural turning point. Electricity, too, slipped into daily life one room at a time. When the internet appeared, most of us treated it as a mild curiosity. Something interesting, certainly, but hardly the force that would reshape how we live, work and tell stories.The world rarely recognises a revolution at the moment it begins. Most of us only understand what changed when we look back.

Continue reading “The Creative Renaissance No One Saw Coming (And Why It’s Just Getting Started)” →