Google’s Artificial Brain Creates Its Own Artworks and They Are Freaky

An abstract composition by Google's artificial neural network.
Photo: Michael Tyka
Edvard Munch's <i>The Scream</i>, given the Inceptionist treatment. <br>Photo: Michael Tyka</br>

Edvard Munch’s The Scream, gets the “Inceptionist” treatment.
Photo: Michael Tyka

Google’s latest search into artificial intelligence has produced some seriously hallucinatory images–composed, like digital paintings, using artificial brain networks like a digital dream machine.

“Inceptionism,” as Google’s research team calls it, is the process of feeding millions of images to an artificial neural network, modelled on the human brain, until it begins to recognize patterns and specific objects within images.

Georges Seurat's <i>A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte</i> at four various stages of Inceptionism. <br>Photo: Micheal Tyka</br>

Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte at stages of Inceptionism.
Photo: Micheal Tyka

“We ask the network ‘whatever you see there, I want more of it!’ This creates a feedback loop: if a cloud looks a little bit like a bird, the network will make it look more like a bird. This in turn will make the network recognize the bird even more strongly on the next pass, and so forth, until a highly detailed bird appears, seemingly out of nowhere,” wrote software engineers Alexander Mordvintsev, Christopher Olah, and Mike Tyka on Google’s research blog.

This isn’t the first computer-generated instance of image-creation, but it could offer some insight into the brain of the artist.

“It also makes us wonder whether neural networks could become a tool for artists, or perhaps even shed a little light on the roots of the creative process in general,” wrote the Google researchers.

Google's own logo, Inception-ized. <br>Photo: Michael Tyka, Google</br>

Google’s logo, Inception-ized.
Photo: Michael Tyka, Google

An abstract composition by Google's artificial neural network. <br>Photo: Michael Tyka</br>

Google’s artificial neural network can also make artwork.
Photo: Michael Tyka, Google

Artificial neural networks found animals all over the original photo of a knight.<br>Photo: Michael Tyka, Google</br>

Artificial neural networks found animals all over the original photo of a knight.
Photo: Michael Tyka, Google

See more of the trippy computer creations here.


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