Tag: The AI Grandad

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.

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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.

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Futuristic cityscape at night with a central humanoid AI figure glowing blue, surrounded by holographic data, digital circuitry, and a luminous brain interface, with the words ‘AI in 2026’ above, suggesting advanced artificial intelligence integrated into urban life.
Posted in AI and Creativity

What We Might Expect from AI in 2026

Posted on by Mike

If 2025 was the year AI stopped being optional, 2026 feels like the year it quietly takes a seat beside us and starts doing some actual work. Not the flashy kind. Not the science-fiction kind. The practical, slightly unglamorous kind that changes how our days are structured without making a fuss about it. We are moving beyond novelty. Fewer party tricks. More purpose.

So, looking ahead, here are some shifts that feel likely, not because they sound exciting, but because they solve real problems.

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A softly lit writing desk at dusk with an open notebook, a pen, and a mug of tea. A handwritten card on the desk reads “I Asked AI What It Thought I Was Doing This Year,” creating a reflective, quiet atmosphere.
Posted in AI and Creativity

I Asked AI What It Thought I Was Doing This Year

Posted on by Mike

As the year began to wind down, I found myself doing what I seem to do most often these days. I asked a question without being entirely sure what I wanted the answer to be.

I gave an AI a short description of this blog, the stories, the images, the experiments, the tone, and the way I tend to circle ideas rather than pin them down. Then I asked it one simple thing. “What do you think The AI Grandad has really been doing this year?”

I did not correct it. I did not steer it. I did not interrupt. This is what it said.

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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 #4 – What’s Left When the Reflection Breaks?

Posted on by Mike

This image stopped me longer than most. Not because it was dramatic. Not because it shouted for attention. But because it felt… exposed. As though I’d stumbled across something that wasn’t meant to be seen all at once. A face, fractured. A reflection, broken. Still looking back.

I won’t tell you what I think it means. That would pin it down too neatly. Instead, I’ll let you sit with it for a moment.

Continue reading “Caption This AI Image #4 – What’s Left When the Reflection Breaks?” →