Anthony Quinn Artist

Your personal artist in residence

Machines and art: mirrors of our humanity

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Anthony

Sometimes I show my sketches to other people. Sometimes I ‘show’ them to machines. I upload them to Artificial Intelligence bots and ask them questions about the drawings. The answers are intriguing and sometimes fun.

I made this drawing – a sketch of a crow – while working on an illustration for a poetry book. All art is made, whether by people or machines. We make art with tools that are also made. The things we make and use are extensions of ourselves and mirrors of our humanity.

Moody drawing of a crow in darkness by anthony quinn artist
Sketch drawing of a crow by anthony quinn artist 100px

How does this drawing make you feel?

I’m curious: what feeling does this sketch evoke?

How would the answers compare if I were to ask an AI the same question?

I’ll ask one and share a comparison in my newsletter.

You can share your answer in the comments below, or if you prefer you can share privately by dropping me a line.

4 responses to “Machines and art: mirrors of our humanity”

  1. Gerry Gaffney Avatar
    Gerry Gaffney

    First response is one of nostalgia because it reminds me of the statue of Cú Chulainn in the GPO in Dublin.

    Secondary is less emotional and more contextual. My younger son is fascinated by corvids and their tool-using abilities, so this reminded me of various instances of tool-using and how it’s not specific to our species.

    BTW I’ve used AI (specifically ChatGPT) recently to comment on song lyrics and a novella, and have had occasionally illuminating responses.

    I enjoy your emails. Hope all is well

    Reply
    1. Anthony Avatar
      Anthony

      Thanks Gerry

      Corvids are fascinating. Here’s a great article about research into consciousness in Corvids. It turns out they have a similar consciousness to us, in that no two crows or ravens will have exactly the same experience of something.

      https://corvidresearch.blog/2020/12/21/do-you-see-what-i-see-subjective-consciousness-in-crows/

      Glad you’re enjoying the newsletter and thanks for the encouragement!
      Anthony

      Reply
  2. philip phelan Avatar
    philip phelan

    This sketch evokes memories of the two groves flanking our farmhouse in south Kilkenny, Ireland. They were packed with crows and the din was huge. We took them for granted.Then our neighbour remarked one day that they’d all left! We identified a small copse about 8km away that they had alighted to and then the reason for their departure: two hawks spiralling slowly in the thermals above our house. As children we had never seen that many in our part of the countryside, but this impressed me. Why? The EU had encouraged farmers to sow bird cover on fallow land and install bird boxes on their farm outbuildings and the policy was clearly working as it was supporting a (likely) breeding pair of raptors. I still miss the crows though.

    Reply
    1. Anthony Avatar
      Anthony

      That’s a beautiful story Phil. I don’t think a machine or an algorithim can do what you just did. Share a story from experience. Funnily enough, I noticed crows everywhere the last two times that I was back home in Ireland. I should look it up. Perhaps I’d never noticed them or payed attention before. Like a lot of things: when you notice, it opens a new experience. I love the idea of you searching the countryside for a flock of crows and eventually finding them.

      Reply

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