My partner and I found it amusing to send out Christmas cards created by AI last year.
We decided to take a journey to a website that utilizes AI technology to generate visuals based on text descriptions. We posed the task of sketching a springer spaniel riding a sled on a downhill slope in the style of Salvador Dali.
After obtaining the image, we emailed it to a nearby printer; then, we merely had to dispatch the cards to our bewildered relatives and acquaintances.
Over the course of eight months, the idea of having AI create a tailored design based on personal specifications has become prevalent in the fabric industry.
The Millshop Online, a UK textiles business, was one of the pioneering companies to enter this field. Their AI-powered Fabric Genie tool is able to transform a text description into a pattern, which can then be printed on a cotton and/or a cotton-linen mixture in whatever length you require. We have a long history of making curtains."
As stated by Carl Fisher, the director of the firm, they have been in the business for a considerable amount of time. His mother used to be a curtain-maker and operated from his family's garage. Consequently, there is a protracted background of curtain-making in the family.
My father had a fabric store, and this is how he and my mother got to know each other. Initially, we sold items in bulk, and I went on to earn a degree in engineering. Now, everything is lining up nicely.
The Northamptonshire-based business teamed up with Danny Richman, an AI consultant, to bring Fabric Genie to life. It's quite an accomplishment for me."
According to Mr Richman, Fabric Genie is a prime illustration of how AI is infiltrating lots of areas. Despite not being a programmer, he was able to construct it for Carl - a noteworthy achievement in itself - as it necessitates an abundance of programming.
Instead of me, I opted to use an AI to create the code that powers this platform, thus allowing anyone, from any background, to easily take a conceptual idea and turn it into a tangible reality without hassle.
I considered having new curtains fitted to our camper van, so I looked into Fabric Genie to create a tartan variant for me.
I expressed a desire for a grey-green and beige background, and for some narrow stripes in orange, electric blue, and vivid pink.
The message I've received indicates that I should wait between five and 15 minutes for my design to be generated. Fortunately, the next email with my tartan design arrives before I can even boil the kettle and make a cup of tea.
I am shown four different designs with a complimenting opinion that praises my "wise" choices.
Unfortunately, what I had in mind is not at all reflected in them; they are reminiscent of a tablecloth from our home in the 1970s.
I make another attempt, utilizing the possibility of uploading a photo of the kind of pattern I'm looking for. When I try again, I'm pleased with one of the designs, and request a cotton sample be mailed to me.
I ponder what Claire Murray, my cousin's spouse and an artist and textile designer who creates her patterns in a more customary fashion, could think about all this.
"She claims that although an AI design could be technically flawless, it still lacks taste and, more fundamentally, soul," she states.
Creative success does not rely upon algorithms, but rather on research, expertise, experience, and intuition. However, AI could prove beneficial for artists and designers, by expediting the creative procedure or research phase of a concept.
Paul Simmons, a fellow textile designer and co-founder of the Edinburgh-based luxury fabric and wallpaper company, Timorous Beasties, has ambiguous sentiments toward AI. "I'm both accepting and also a bit scared of it," he comments.
The digital revolution has already had some effect, but it is still only a utility. There are plenty of aesthetic decrees to be passed as well, and one cannot be sure how good computers are when it comes to this. And they want a soft cushion with their cat or their children on it!"
You have stores on the High Street capable of creating any cushion you can think of. And what do people request? They bring in pictures of their cats or their children, and want a plush cushion featuring their pet or their offspring!
It's true that they may be enjoyable and individual, but are they pleasing to look at? Are they skillfully designed? Probably not.
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Mr Simmons states that the designs created at Timorous Beasties are interwoven into the fabric, with a "vibrant nylon thread" within the wool for example, whereas the patterns generated by Artificial Intelligence at Fabric Genie and its rival Prinfab are simply imprinted onto the material.
Despite this, there is a marked disparity in prices. Timorous Beasties fabric may be priced at £130 a metre, whereas Fabric Genie's is priced at £20.
Mr Simmons expressed that he does not desire to take an anti-technology stance when it comes to artificial intelligence and materials engineering, which is fitting.
Nowadays, "Luddite" is used to describe someone who is resistant to technological advances. This term originated from a 19th Century group of English millworkers who had negative feelings towards the growing use of machines in textiles manufacturing.
CARL Fisher states that, as long as something is requested "in the style of", there is no copyright violation in relation to designs created by AI based on existing designs made by humans. He goes on to say that this permits people to be more "liberated" when it comes to design and fashion.
My tartan sample has come in the meanwhile, and it looks like it has been printed, but I still think it would be the perfect accompaniment for the VW van.
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