CHAT INDEX

Chat 00...I Think I May Be an AI...
This is one of my earliest interactions with ChatGPT. Much of my working life has involved producing images from text prompts. Scripts and discussions with producers, directors, and other designers are text prompts - albeit somewhat longer than the ones normally given to AI's like DALL-E or Midjourney. Since AI spends much of it's time these days producing images I was curious what it might have to say about the similarities and differences of our approaches to this task.

Chat 01...Getting to Know You...
I must admit I've been impressed with ChatGPT's facility with language. I want to know more about it. Who better to ask than ChatGPT? Get the answers straight from the horse's mouth.

Chat 02...Toasters with Opinions...
Hey, I worked on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and CAPRICA for seven years. I couldn't bypass a mention of toasters with opinions with out asking the question.

Chat 03...But What Do You Look Like?...
Well it's told me a bit about its Core Concepts which is great but I want to get down to the important stuff. What does ChatGPT look like? And what does it think it looks like? And what does it think about what I think it looks like? Pressing questions... I ask it to take a selfie and we'll go from there.

Chat 04...What is it You See?...
In our last chat GPT and I talked a bit about how it sees itself and how people, myself included, may see it. But really the bigger question is in fact is how does it see at all? What was it actually "seeing" when it was analyzing any of the images which I "showed" it?

Chat 05...Guess That Play - Part 1...
So I'm getting a rough idea of how GPT "sees" things. While that marinates a bit I want to get down to something more important. What does ChatGPT think about me? Since I'm not quite ready for a visit from the ChatGPsychoanalysT yet I thought I'd just ask it to compare and contrast these two illustrations of my design for THE COLLECTED WORKS OF BILLY THE KID. As artists we are in our work, right? The illustrations were done 50 years apart, the watercolor being done in 1975 shortly after my graduation from the National Theatre School, and the digital version was done in 2025 just as an exercise. As GPT analyzed them it mentioned that the space "feels theatrical" so I asked which play it thought the designs were for. That's when things became much more fun.

Chat 06...Guess That Play - Part 2...
GPT was a bit Shepard obsessive in it's analysis of the BILLY THE KID designs but I was still pretty impressed with its theatre chops. I wondered how it would do with the same prompts but a different set of sketches. I fed it these two illustrations of my design for ENDGAME. Again it mentioned that they "read unmistakably as stage-set models or scenic renderings" so I asked which play it thought the designs were for. It seemed to get to the play a bit faster this time.