AI painting created by the author using GauGAN tool of nvidia

Human creativity is evolving with time and the concept of ‘art’ is also evolving. This is the era of machines. What if the machines can draw? It is already reality! Artificial intelligence based drawing tools were available since a few years, but the technology has taken a quantum leap recently. An artwork created by a Paris based company using artificial intelligence was sold in New York for $432,000 in the month of October, 2018. The news created ripples across the art industry. Human created machine can finally compete with human in the context of creativity. I was amazed when I read the news and it made me very curious about AI painting. I was a terrible painter since childhood. Most probably, my terrible painting skill pushed my interest further!

I came across GauGAN AI painting tool of nvidia research a few days back and I started to play with it. The tool is currently in beta stage. It has won two major SIGGRAPH awards recently. It is a web app and the layout is very simple. The tool has a paintbrush like section which allows you to scribble anything. You can draw childish pattern scribbles of mountain, river, sky, cloud, bush, trees. The neural network driven artificial intelligence model recognizes the patterns in your scribbles and produces imaginative painting. Sounds awesome! Yes, indeed. I was impressed with the output. The tool also has some in-built landscapes, which you can import. It is possible to import your stock image also. The algorithm recognizes the textures and patterns of the landscapes and derives matching patterns with your scribbles. The current version allows you to upload custom style filters and segmentation maps also. The output blew my head off!

Here is the step by step process which I followed to create the painting using GauGAN AI painting tool of nvidia

Step 1 – Creating rocks

Step 2 – Creating bush

Step 3 – Creating mountain

Step 4 – Creating cloud, sky, sea

Step 5 – Importing the scribble into the imported landscape

Step 6 – Applying filter

Will AI bring the death of artists? I do not think so. The combination of man and machine can bring more creativity. Till the time it is adding some value and creating unique things, it is good enough. Creativity only survives when redundancy is pushed to a minimum. AI may challenge us to bring on more creativity. Now it is time to compete with machines!

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