Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1491554
9 0 G R A P H I C S P R O • M A R C H 2 0 2 3 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M B U S I N E S S S T R A T E G I E S A new breed of digital artists and designers have emerged that employ this cutting-edge technology. Jenn Mishra (jennifermishra.com) a photographer and digital artist from Saint Louis uses the Midjourney AI system to create images. She prompts the software with text and lets Midjourney find appropriate data from the vastness of the internet. The software generates a configuration of the source pictures and composes them into the final image. (Fig. 4A,B) Sci Fi AI is revolutionary! For the first time in the history of human existence machines can be taught to replicate complex human behaviors. ey can, in essence, think! Is this the stuff of science fiction? I suspect that AI will, in the not-so- distant future, work its way into many aspects of production and manufacturing. At this point in the graphics profession it's not quite state-of-the-art but eventually it will be utilized for its efficiency, accuracy, cost savings and creativity. The Shock of the New AI certainly has its advantages. It does, however, bring up certain questions about ethics and the inevitable impact on employ- ment and the potential for misuse, so much so that the comic book industry has recently distanced itself from AI-generated art (Fig. 5). I suspect that will change when the fear subsides and they realize AI's potential. Back in the '80s and '90s we had these concerns when the graph- ics industry was radically transformed. But as a pro- fession, we landed on our feet. Ultimately even more jobs were created as tech- nology advanced and new types of artists and techni- cians who were trained in the new discipline of "dig- ital art" emerged. I predict that the same is true of AI as it becomes a regular part of the graphics work- flow. GP Fig. 4B: Jenn Mishra is a photographer and digital artist who uses Midjourney, an AI image generator, to create these stunning images. Fig. 5: The comic book industry has recently distanced itself from AI generated art. Fig. 4A