Author: Elle Alder
Date: March 15, 2023
Link: https://driving.ca/car-culture/auto-tech/ai-generated-cars-art-entertainment-automotive-design
Have you ever wondered what a Toyota Supra would’ve looked like in the 1950s? What if BMW had sold a Wagoneer-rivalling X5 back in 1979? Or if you’re properly perverse, how about a new Chevy Camaro Ute?
If you can describe it, a computer algorithm can probably stitch it together. Just as smartphone access to Google now demystifies so many pub-conversation curiosities, so too can the next generation of ‘artificial-intelligence’ software suggest quick answers to any visual you might imagine.
A photojournalist turned wooden-toy restorer and retailer, Wood is the creator behind Automotive.AI. This hobby feed has attracted thousands of Instagram followers with its fantastical cars, scenes, and brochures that never were. Based just east of Toronto with his family and upstart premium toy business, paternal-leave life amid Covid left a pile of extra time and creative energy on his hands.
Wood started tinkering with publicly available tools to tease out what sorts of prompts did and didn’t work, with a specific eye to identifying what they’d been trained on. By iterating prompts a bit at a time, he soon found formulae that accommodate his visions.
Analysis:
This article is interesting being it shows how AI can be used to create new car designs, but only from the information it knows. AI is “still parametric and dependent on existing media, these systems do not imagine, express preference, concoct new ideas, or create fundamentally new media.” Hence, AI is a great way to ideate new concepts, but knowing it is based on preexisting concepts means it won’t be taking over car designers’ jobs who come up with completely new concepts. Additionally, this reminded me of the fact that I could use AI to explore the interior designs of cars just as much as the exterior designs.
