Interpretation is a personal experience. So is conjecture and imagination. Google’s DeepDream Program has opened new doors for all three. The question is- is this weird and yet refreshingly different way of looking at things the first step towards a future where impossibility is considered unreal?
Simplifying DeepDream Software
You may describe DeepDream as a neural network. Consider it to be similar to the image recognition technology of Google. This machine is taught to recognise patterns, coloured pixels in this case, in data.
Pre-operating on a bank of image data, DeepDream was taught to recognise certain shapes. Then, the creators went ahead and showed it to create images based on its guesses.
Recognising, Enhancing & Iterating
For instance, if DeepDream is asked to search for birds, it will catch anything that looks remotely close to a bird and will enhance it to look more like a bird. Then, it will iterate the whole process of recognition and improve on this modified image.
The result- an image full of morphed bird faces. So, you see, in a way, it is making things appear out of nowhere. The outcomes can be sometimes fascinating, sometimes beautiful and at times nightmarish.
Brilliant and Yet Unnerving
And I am not just talking about the results that come out of Google’s DeepDream generator. I am speaking about the implications of a machine that fakes so convincingly.
Art is an output of passion, interest, logic, contemplation, and other such intense emotions. DeepDream code is a tool. It works on commands and some analytical intelligence. And yet, it produces results that are flawless in being, well, whatever they are.
Why Do DeepDream Images Resemble Hallucinations
When you hallucinate, your brain recognises things, exaggerates them and runs your personal version of the world on a loop in front of your eyes.
That is in a way what DeepDream app does. You can say that they consider all possibilities that could have caused a particular sensory input, and then they exaggerate the result, iteration per iteration.
Now, these options are somewhat limited. This is because this machine is in the learning phase, so it only recognises things it has seen before – data that it has been fed and that it now knows and hence can create.
This is why you will come across a lot of dog faces in many DeepDream images.
Where Can You Create Your Own DeepDream Image?
Google’s DeepDream Generator is the place to go to. It is online and fairly fast in processing and vastly featured. However, there are other options, both free of cost and premium ones that you can find via a simple Google search.
The Ultimate Implications of DeepDream Technology
As long as this machine grows on generic images, creating birds and dinosaurs, and breaks in a kung fu panda image, for instance, that’s acceptable. But consider a possibility where it is made to study Picasso or Monet or Da Vinci- their styles, their strokes, everything.
If it creates something out of that knowledge, the results would be incredible because they would be based on the best.
Only, how comfortable are we with this? Is this, in a way, the beginning of an era where we lose humanity to machines? Or is it just another visual style that people will get bored of in a few years, or use as an aid to developing digital art?
All in All- It Isn’t Bad or Good
To some, it is intriguing. To others, it is just illogical stuff made of nightmares. The reception is mixed.
But to be honest, Google’s DeepDream also is just another trend. That it stays or withers away is something only time will reveal. However, it will be interesting to see the several debates that it will unfold, with this being a piece of technology that solidifies the belief that machines might just take over someday.
Primary Keyword: Google DeepDream
LSI Keywords: DeepDream software, Google DeepDream generator, DeepDream code, DeepDream Technology, DeepDream app, DeepDream images.
References:
- https://psmag.com/why-Google-s-deep-dream-is-future-kitsch-5963c28fde12#.hxme2g87n
- http://www.networkworld.com/article/2974718/software/deep-dream-artificial-intelligence-meets-hallucinations.html
- https://research.Googleblog.com/2015/06/inceptionism-going-deeper-into-neural.html
- http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-Googles-neural-networks-look-like-theyre-on-acid
- https://www.fastcodesign.com/3048941/why-Googles-deep-dream-ai-hallucinates-in-dog-faces
- https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cbelv/eli5_can_anyone_explain_Googles_deep_dream/