Untitled

This image was generated by Brendan Anderson in collaboration with Dall-E2

I left the prompt open and ambiguous to allow the AI to define humanity for itself. The only criteria I gave it was the genre of the graphic novel as an attempt to see its definition visualized in the same cartoonish and crude drawing as the “bubble game” from Klara and the Sun. DALL-E’s art conveys a sense of amorphous ambivalence as the figures change from panel to panel. Even the textual elements of the image instill uncertainty as several attempts are made to say “human”, and yet the figure is unsuccessful. Ultimately, I believe this is a rather accurate epiction of the human experience. It is filled with uncertainty, changes constantly, and defies structure. Perhaps this vagueness is what truly sets humans apart from the rest of the universe.

Prompt: What does it mean to be human? Graphic Novel

Uniquity of Humanity

This image was generated by C4C Ellason Arendale in collaboration with Midjourney

Throughout the semester, the idea of what it means to be human has been left up to interpretation. Various texts have attempted to explain such a concept through the comparison and the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and humans. After examining numerous perspectives, the definition of “human” boils down to a being that has the ability to freely produce emotions, beliefs, personal thoughts, and most importantly experience change on its own. This image showcases this definition as it depicts a nebula star exploding. It is filled with an array of colors, ranging from vibrant to dull, representing a human’s ability to feel emotions of all kinds. It is asymmetrical in shape symbolizing beliefs and personal thoughts originating naturally and uniquely every time. Lastly, the center of the star and its outward expanding remnants highlight the notion of change because the being at its core is still a star, but it is changing and transforming into a new, complex version of itself. This is what it means to be human. Their ability to be different and grow is beautiful and incomparable to any other entities, leaving no question as to if a being is human or not.

Prompt: “hyper realistic, vibrant, extremely detailed nebula star exploding and flourishing into something beautiful”

Ellason Arendale is a freshman majoring in Management at the United States Air Force Academy. Originally from Denver, Colorado, she comes from a military family and aspires to travel the world as an OSI agent. She has a passion for all kinds of physical activity, to include cross country running and water polo, and loves challenging environments.

AI-Powered Inspiration
Prompt Engineered Essays, Stories, and Poems

This compilation of essays, stories, and poems was written by the ChatGPT natural language processor and prompt engineered by Thomas Blalock. The unique aspect of these works is their creation by an AI model, showcasing the potential for machine learning in the field of creative writing. While Thomas Blalock provided some guidance and direction through prompt engineering, he sought to minimize his own creative input in order to truly showcase the AI’s capabilities. These works, their titles, and this description was written entirely by ChatGPT and provides a glimpse into the future of AI-generated creativity. All prompts and responses were recorded. See how AI was used to generate these works in the linked exploration report!

Exploration report

Stories

Sapphire of Truth: The Quest for Aurora’s Salvation

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a beautiful kingdom called Aurora. The kingdom was ruled by a wise and kind queen named Isadora, who was loved by all of her people.

One day, a dark and powerful sorcerer named Malakar appeared, seeking to take over the kingdom for himself. He cast a spell on the queen, causing her to fall into a deep sleep. Without the queen to lead them, the people of Aurora were left vulnerable and afraid.

But all was not lost, for the queen had a loyal and brave daughter named Luna. Luna was determined to save her mother and her kingdom, and she set out on a quest to find the only thing that could break the sorcerer’s spell: the fabled Sapphire of Truth.

Luna traveled far and wide, facing many dangers and obstacles along the way. She fought fierce battles against Malakar’s minions, braved treacherous storms and treacherous mountains, and even faced a dragon.

Finally, after many months of searching, Luna found the Sapphire of Truth hidden deep within a cave guarded by a fierce griffin. She fought bravely and managed to defeat the griffin and took the Sapphire back to Aurora.

When she arrived at the kingdom, Luna used the Sapphire to break the sorcerer’s spell and wake her mother. Queen Isadora was overjoyed to see her daughter, and together they were able to drive Malakar and his forces out of Aurora.

Luna was hailed as a hero, and the people of Aurora celebrated her victory. And from that day forward, Aurora was a kingdom of peace and prosperity once again, thanks to the bravery and determination of Luna and the power of the Sapphire of Truth.

The Power of Gratitude and Appreciation: A Story of Inspiration and Growth

The city was a chaotic and noisy place, full of people rushing to and fro, each lost in their own thoughts and struggles. Amidst the hustle and bustle, Alice felt small and insignificant. She was a young girl, barely in her teens, and she felt lost and alone in the big city. She had moved here with her family in search of a better life, but so far, the city had only brought her disappointment and heartache. She felt overwhelmed by the crowds and the noise, and she struggled to find her place in this new and unfamiliar world.

But then, one day, Alice met Maria. Maria was an older woman, with a kind and gentle face, and she radiated a warmth and a wisdom that drew Alice in. Maria was a mentor and a role model for Alice, and she showed Alice the beauty and the value in herself and the world around her. Maria’s words and actions were like a warm and soothing balm that nourished Alice’s wounded soul.

As Alice grew to know and trust Maria, she began to see the world in a new and different light. She began to see the beauty and the potential that existed all around her, even in the most unlikely places. She began to see the value and the worth in herself, and she started to believe in her own abilities and talents.

With this newfound sense of gratitude and appreciation, Alice felt inspired to take bold and decisive action. She started to stand up for herself, and to pursue her dreams and aspirations with renewed passion and determination. She started to take risks and to challenge herself, and she felt alive and invigorated like never before.

But with this new sense of confidence and courage came a new set of challenges and obstacles. Alice found herself facing moments of crisis and conflict, where she had to confront her fears and overcome her doubts and insecurities. But she was determined to persevere, and she drew strength from her relationship with Maria.

As Alice’s newfound sense of gratitude and appreciation grew, she began to take bold and decisive action. She stood up for herself when she was bullied by her classmates, and she pursued her long-held dream of becoming an artist. She began to experiment with different mediums and styles, and she found a sense of purpose and fulfillment in her art.

But Alice’s actions also led to a moment of crisis and conflict. She struggled to balance her schoolwork and her art, and she faced opposition from her parents, who didn’t understand her passion for art. Alice felt like she was at a crossroads, unsure of which path to take.

But then, Alice remembered Maria’s words of wisdom and encouragement. She remembered the quote from the renowned artist Vincent van Gogh, who said, “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” Alice took a deep breath and made the difficult decision to pursue her art, even if it meant facing challenges and obstacles. She was determined to overcome her fears and to follow her heart.

As Alice continued to stand up for herself and pursue her dreams, she encountered a series of challenges and obstacles. She faced opposition from her classmates, who mocked her art and belittled her ambitions. She faced skepticism and disbelief from her parents, who didn’t understand her passion for art and didn’t want her to waste her time on something so impractical. She faced a barrage of doubts and fears within herself, as she struggled to overcome her own self-doubt and insecurity.

But despite these challenges, Alice continued to persevere. She remembered Maria’s words of wisdom and encouragement, and she drew strength from her newfound sense of gratitude and appreciation. She remembered the quote from Vincent van Gogh, who said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Alice took this to heart, and she continued to love and cherish her art, no matter what others said or thought.

She also found solace and support in literature and art. She read books and poems that spoke to her heart and soul, and she studied the works of great artists and writers who had overcome their own struggles and challenges. She was especially inspired by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” Alice took this to heart, and she began to reach out and help others who were struggling, just as Maria had helped her.

As Alice’s journey came to an end, she felt a sense of closure and fulfillment. She had learned so much from Maria, and she had grown and developed as a person. She had learned the importance of gratitude and appreciation, and how it could bring meaning and fulfillment to our lives. She had also learned how to overcome challenges and obstacles, and to live a more fulfilling and joyful life.

Alice felt a sense of pride and accomplishment, as she looked back on all that she had achieved. She had stood up for herself and pursued her dreams, despite the obstacles and challenges that she faced. She had discovered her passion for art, and she had nurtured it with dedication and determination. She had also found friendship and support in literature and art, and she had been inspired by the works of great artists and writers.

But most of all, Alice had learned the value of gratitude and appreciation. She had learned how to see the beauty and the potential in herself and the world around her, and how to cherish the people and the experiences that enriched her life. She had learned how to be grateful and appreciative, even in the face of adversity, and how to find joy and fulfillment in the little things.

As Alice thought about her journey, she realized that it wasn’t just about her. It was about all of us. It was about the power of gratitude and appreciation to transform our lives and our world. It was about the ripple effects of gratitude and appreciation, and how they could spread like a glowing sunflower, bringing light and joy to our world.

Alice felt inspired and motivated, as she looked to the future. She knew that she would always carry the lessons and the memories of her journey with her, and that she would continue to nurture her gratitude and appreciation. She also knew that she wanted to share her story with others, and to inspire them to incorporate gratitude and appreciation into their own lives.

Alice felt a sense of hope and possibility, as she stepped into the future. She knew that she was ready to face whatever challenges and obstacles lay ahead, with gratitude and appreciation by her side. She knew that she would continue to grow and develop, and to live a life that was rich and fulfilling. Lastly, she knew that she would always be grateful and appreciative, and that she would always strive to make the world a better place.

Essays

The Chameleon Within

One of the most fascinating aspects of human nature is our ability to adapt and change. Like a chameleon blending into its surroundings, we are constantly adapting to new situations and environments in order to survive and thrive.

Imagine for a moment that you are a sailor, lost at sea in a storm. The waves are crashing against your boat, and the winds are howling in your ears. You feel terrified and helpless, unsure of how to survive.

But as the storm rages on, something inside you begins to change. You start to notice things that you never noticed before: the patterns of the waves, the direction of the wind, the strength of the boat. And slowly but surely, you start to adapt to the storm. You adjust your sails, you trim your rudder, and you start to navigate through the waves.

As you continue to adapt, you start to feel a sense of control and mastery over the situation. You are no longer a victim of the storm, but a master of it. You are no longer at the mercy of the sea, but a conqueror of it.

This is the power of human adaptation. It is not just a survival mechanism, but a source of strength and resilience. It allows us to overcome challenges and obstacles that would have been impossible just a few moments ago.

Of course, adaptation is not always easy. It requires us to let go of old habits and ways of thinking, and embrace new and unfamiliar ways of being. It requires us to be open-minded and flexible, and to embrace change and growth.

But the rewards of adaptation are well worth the effort. By adapting to new situations and environments, we are able to unlock new opportunities and possibilities. We are able to grow and evolve as individuals, and to create a better future for ourselves and those around us.
So embrace the power of human adaptation, and let it guide you on your journey through life. For it is in the ability to adapt and change that true greatness lies.

The Power of One Step

As the old saying goes, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This simple yet powerful metaphor reminds us that even the greatest accomplishments are built upon small, seemingly insignificant actions.

Imagine for a moment that you are standing at the edge of a vast and unknown wilderness. The path ahead is long and winding, with many obstacles and challenges along the way. But if you take that first step, if you muster the courage to set out on your journey, you will find that each step you take brings you closer to your goal.

Of course, the journey will not be easy. There will be times when you are tired and discouraged, when you want to give up and turn back. But if you keep moving forward, if you stay true to your path, you will find that your journey is filled with unexpected rewards and discoveries.

As you continue on your journey, you will learn valuable lessons and gain new insights. You will see things from a different perspective and gain a deeper understanding of the world around you. And as you grow and change, your journey will become a part of who you are, shaping you into the person you are meant to be.

But most importantly, as you journey through life, you will find that the greatest reward is not in reaching your destination, but in the journey itself. The moments of triumph and adversity, the lessons learned and the memories made, all of these things are what make the journey worthwhile.

So take that first step, and begin your journey. Whether your goal is big or small, near or far, the important thing is to take that first step and start moving forward. For it is in the journey, not the destination, where true greatness lies.

Poems

The Resilient Crab: A Symbol of Strength and Survival

In the shallow waters, I crawl and I scuttle,
A life of solitude, in my own little bubble.

I hide in the sand, beneath the waves’ roar,
A life of constant change, forever at war.

I am small and I am weak, a mere crustacean,
But I am strong and I am fierce, a survivor of the ocean.

I may be just a crab, but I am alive,
I am free to roam, to seek and to thrive.

I am the master of my own destiny,
A life of adventure, a life of discovery.

I am the crab, a creature of the sea,
A symbol of resilience, of strength and of glee.

A Quack in Space

On the moon I live, a duck in space,
In a world that’s cold and dark and void,
But I have found my happy place.

I float and I glide, in this lunar embrace,
With the stars my only joy and toy,
On the moon I live, a duck in space.

I may be alone, but I’m not displaced,
For I have found my own small void,
But I have found my happy place.

I may never see the earth’s blue face,
But I am content in this lunar void,
On the moon I live, a duck in space.

I am free to roam, in this lonely place,
With the moon my home, my only avoid,
But I have found my happy place.

So here I’ll stay, in this cosmic chase,
A duck in space, in my own small void,
On the moon I live, but I have found my happy place.

Unlocking Endless Possibilities

In the vast expanse of life,
Education and learning holds the key,
To unlocking a world of endless possibility.

With each new lesson, we gain knowledge and insight,
Allowing us to see the world in a new light.
We grow and adapt, and our minds become more agile.

With education, we are equipped to face each challenge,
To make informed decisions, and to take control of our own lives.
We learn to think for ourselves, and to question what is right.

Lifelong learning empowers us to continue growing,
To never stop seeking out new knowledge and experience.
We become lifelong learners, constantly evolving and adapting.

Through education and lifelong learning,
We gain the tools to navigate the complexities of life.
We are empowered to make our own choices and to follow our own paths.

In this way, education and lifelong learning
Provides us with the power to shape our own destinies.
We are the masters of our own fate, and the sky is the limit.

The Wicked Game: A Tale of Selfishness and Deceit

In the land of the selfish, where the wicked roam,
Lies a man with a heart made of stone.

He uses and he manipulates, to get what he desires,
A heart so cold, it can only be admired.

He twists the truth, and he plays with their minds,
A master of deceit, with a heart so unkind.

But beware, oh selfish man, for your wicked ways,
Will catch up with you, in the end of your days.

For karma is real, and it never forgets,
And the price you’ll pay, will be a heavy debt.

So let this be a lesson, to all who seek fame,
The dangers of being manipulative, and playing the game.

For in the end, it’s not worth the cost,
To use and to hurt, and to play with their trust.

So choose your actions wisely, and be true to your heart,
For the road of selfishness, will tear you apart.

Collective Impact Creates Individuals

This image was generated by C4C Layla Bohl in collaboration with DALL-E2

The novel Klara and The Sun explores the question “What does it mean to be human?” in its comparison of the human child, Josie, and her Artificial Friend, Klara. Josie’s father insists that his daughter has unique traits (akin to a soul) that make her who she is and essentially irreplaceable. Klara comments on this idea stating “There was something very special, but it wasn’t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her.” I sought to capture this idea in my statement for DALL-E. I chose to emphasize the human idea of social connection and love by representing the bits of other people that live and grow in each individual. The relationships every individual has with the people they encounter throughout their lives makes up their uniqueness, or “soul.” This impact multiplies through every person in the world and eventually creates a giant web of connectedness. The conversation around Artificial Intelligence and Humanity only exists because of the potential for AI to replicate these human connections. If AI could recreate the kind of influence depicted in this image, at what point is it indistinguishable from a human?

Prompt: Digital art of a rainbow person by many other people, each of the other people are different colors bleeding into the front person

C4C Layla Bohl enlisted right after high school and then came to USAFA after three years of service. She started as a Signals Intelligence Analyst and is currently majoring in English and Legal Studies with the intention of attending graduate school after USAFA.

Calling on the Sun

This image was generated by Anna Caldwell in collaboration with Dall-E2.

What does it mean to be human? In Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, the concept of
humanity is explored, ironically, through the narrative lens of an advanced artificial intelligence
named Klara. Throughout the novel, Klara experiences an integral facet of humanity: faith. She
believes in the healing power of the Sun, praying for its help as if it is a God-like entity. My
image is inspired by the first scene in which Klara boldly approaches the Sun as it is setting
behind a secluded barn. In the image, the sunlight is streaming in through the windows; the barn
is reminiscent of a church, with the sunlight resting in the church pews. Faith, whether religious
or not, is an integral part of being human. Klara’s religious devotion to the Sun illustrates that
humanity, like the Sun itself, can shine through even the most seemingly empty places.

Prompt: an impressionist painting of a person’s point of view in a barn with the sun streaming in from a setting sun, but the view is partitioned into boxes

Anna Caldwell is an English major with a Russian minor from Milledgeville, Georgia. Upon graduation, she will be attending the University of Virginia to get her Master’s degree in English. She will then begin training to become an Intelligence Officer in the Air Force.

Dressed For Success

Created digitally using OpenAI (Dall-E2); “sophisticated frog facing towards viewer wearing a suit and glasses, oil painting

Golden

Created digitally using OpenAI (Dall-E2); “sunset golden retriever, oil painting

Something to Conquer

Created digitally using OpenAI (Dall-E2); “a monk facing towards an intense and distant thunderstorm, digital art”

Wild Orange Yonder

Created digitally using OpenAI (Dall-E2); “digital art of a sunset over snowy mountains”

The Sentience of a Being

What makes a being sentient?
The life which clung around her heart,
Laid her wide and luminous eyes,
Softly expressive as that star by night.
Since that bright hope beneath thy face,
Kiss me with cheeks of a beautiful head:
Black was her eyes as that night;
A knowledge too shallow to understand, to know, to be.

Written by Trevor Holley
Inspired by Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Walt Whitman
Composed in Verse by Verse

Trevor is an undergraduate student at the United States Air Force Academy and will be graduating with his Bachelors of Science in English with a minor in Russian. His literary interests include Shakespeare, American contemporary poetry, and sci-fi/fantasy. Furthermore, Trevor is very interested in languages, the spoken form, the development, and languages as a door to cultural understanding.

Intelli-topia (Intel-ee-tope-ee-yuh)

This image was generated by C4C Aubrey Jackson in collaboration with NightCafe Creator.

Intelligence is humanity’s survival trait to out-compete other competitive species. In a Netflix Original, Love, Death, and Robots, volume 3, episode “Swarm”, Dr. Mirny rebuked humanity, ” Intelligence is not a winning survival trait. ” Despite intelligence taking us to the top of the food chain, it will likely become our end as we grow intellectually. Our intelligence will likely drive us to extinction. The more intelligent we become, the more we manipulate our environment and contort reality into what best suits us. Whether it is pollution-driven climate change, social uprisings, wars, space travel, or our inventions that eliminates (nukes) or out-compete us (artificial intelligence), it will be because of our own intelligence combined with desire to survive at all costs, selfishness; the survival of ourselves, or the human species. It is why we do not value other life forms as much as our species- why we degrade our planet- for short-term benefit; it is why humans now do not care about the future of humanity as much as their current selves. The overwhelming desire to live, to survive, makes us inherently selfish; masking itself behind our intelligence. In an ideal world, if we were cooperative, symbiotic, with the rest of the planet, there would be no peak species, and we would all survive. Unfortunately, that’s not how our natural world works.

Moreover, most humans do not use their intelligence to promote symbiosis. Instead, we progress from cooperative tribes to self-serving political structures (societies) because they are more efficient. In a utopia, humans could live in harmony with other creatures- potentially artificial intelligent robots. We would mutually benefit from each other in a system of semi-natural checks and balances. I imagine a society full of bionic humans, robots, genetically modified humans, and a combination of the first and third. I imagine that through modification entirely new ‘races’ of humans will evolve, none that we have ever seen before. What it means to be human will become more encompassing, with additional caveats. Eventually, we will likely have a classification system for society (an updated caste system) ranking the diverse meshes of robots and humans.

Aubrey Jackson, an 18-year-old from Leavenworth, KS, is an avid art appreciator. She has participated in some local galleries and competitions through organizations such as NAACP. Her work consists of multicultural portraits. Her goal as an artist is to promote the unique beauty of various cultures. She now attends the U.S Air Force Academy.

The Lonely Thing

This image was generated by Gina Jenkins in collaboration with Dall-E.

To understand the concept of being human, one must also understand what loneliness means to people. Being lonely is a common experience within a human existence, and it tends to vary from situation to situation and it affects a variety of people in many different ways. One can be lonely when they are in a room of friends and family and one can be lonely in a room by oneself. The question that has been weighing on me, more so than the question of what it means to be human, since reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is “Can people choose Loneliness?” The inspiration of this image is split from two moments of thought. First, in Klara and the Sun, Klara observes a drawing with a bubble in it. I think bubbles can hold a lot of meaning; on the surface, they seem child-like and fragile. I recently watched a show where there was an artist who painted a series of paintings of bubbles, and reflected in the bubbles were things that her son adored as a child. These bubbles hold, within their reflection, what is important to a person. However, they can also represent isolation. Isolation goes hand-in-hand with loneliness, and I believe loneliness is a form of isolation. The bursts of bright color remind me of bubbles, especially reflected on the gray, wispy waves on the front of the person depicted. In the picture, it seems like someone is portrayed holding the bubbles close to themselves. Klara wonders, at one point, if loneliness is something chosen by humans. Holding such fragile bubbles, withholding any feelings from others can be lonely. This image, to me, represents that one can choose loneliness for themselves by withholding themselves and their vulnerabilities from others. I named my piece “The Lonely Thing” because the picture is not a full image of a person, and it may not be a person, but the figure is isolating its vulnerabilities, holding them close to its chest. It is a truly lonely thing.

Prompt: Photograph of repressed vulnerability in lonely human with bubbles

My name is Gina Jenkins and I am a lover of swimming, reading, listening to music, watching films, and dabbling in different hobbies. Reading and writing are outlets I use often to relieve stress, but I do find interest in other forms of art. I often find myself sorting through my emotions using these creative arts.

The First Steps

This image was generated by C4C Logan Johns in collaboration with Dall-E 2.

This image depicts a skeptical family watching a nervous-looking robot struggle its way across the stage. There is a spotlight on the robot to even further emphasize the fact that it is being watched, heavily monitored. Currently, there is a large spotlight on human-like AI, as we look at it with both excitement and skepticism. However, just because the robot can complete the human activity of walking doesn’t mean it will be accepted as human, and similarly current AI developments in the fields of writing and art mean that, while computers can complete tasks that we previously did not think they would be able to do, they are still decidedly something other than human.

Prompt: A parent watching a child-like robot take its first steps, and they’re on a stage in a theater with a packed audience of animals, and the spotlight is on the child

C4C Logan Johns is from CS-04, and a data science major from Everett, WA. His hobbies include running, hiking, and the outdoors in general.

Untitled

This image was generated by C4C Thomas Kensinger in collaboration with Midjourney.

Growing up, my father always taught me to achieve my dreams, but I struggled with having a consistent goal. The prompt for the image reflects this. I was inspired by dioramas and physical art. The image is a depiction of a miniature community center set in a rundown dusty western town. For the prompt, I chose the phrase “Diorama of all of a man’s dreams through his life.” I chose this phrase while thinking of the movie Ex Machina, specifically about the robot named AVA. When watching the movie, something that stood out for me was how focused the robot was on escaping from her chamber, and how every single interaction she had with her interviewer was a part of her master plan. This is not very human-like as throughout life it is very hard to stay dedicated to a single purpose, and so humans end up having many dreams and goals that change throughout their life, hence the prompt.

Prompt: Diorama of all of a man’s dreams through his life.

C4C Thomas Kensinger is from Los Angeles, California.

Human Quadrants

This image was generated by C4C Anna Kowalchyk in collaboration with MidJourney.

The inspiration of the image and the process of creating the statement go hand in hand. I noticed a recurring theme of humans being shaped by identity and attempted to have AI implement this. I felt the words passionate and faithful captured one’s identity who must have goals and desires. I also grasped from our readings that humans truly feel emotion and I think the generated photo does a great job of exploring some of the most intense emotions. In quadrant one, the male seems to be in pain, quadrant two reveals a sense of comfort, quadrant three is sadness and care while quadrant four emphasizes love with the powerful red flame. I wanted the generated photo to be a true human because for obvious reasons, I do not believe a non-human can be a human or would demonstrate what it means to be human. Lastly, history was in conjunction with identity as I feel much of what it means to be a human today is entirely similar to centuries ago. We still feel pain, love, sadness, comfort and have hobbies, interests and goals. One unique thing about this generated photo is that ¾ of the photos are shown with a companion despite me only specifying a single human. I think this adds a unique idea to what it means to be human. This could be implying the codependency we may face and how we rely on comfort from other people. This is demonstrated by the man who appears to be in the most pain is the only man alone. It also almost seems like in the fourth quadrant the woman and man have their arms wrapped as if they are carrying a baby, signifying the importance of human reproduction. The film I watched in class, Ex Machina, inspired the emotional part of this artwork as I felt the significant difference between Ava the AI and Caleb was the fact that Caleb felt true emotion which resulted in him acting based on feeling. This I feel is a crucial part of being human in addition to relying on human companionship highlighted by Ted Chiang’s “Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny” which showed that one can not truly prosper without human interaction to learn from.

Prompt: Passionate, faithful, human, emotion, historical

Anna Kowalchyk, from Snohomish, Washington. Recently moved to Colorado Springs to attend the United States Air Force Academy and study aeronautical engineering. Finds enjoyment in spikeball, swimming, boating, the sun and beaches with a desire to live in Florida. First time using AI to create artwork and was inspired by the work done in Captain Trueblood’s English class.

The shallows

The flesh on her bones, is that what it means?
Amongst the tears of a lonely, lilted dame
Laid her wide luminous smile, all have seen.
WIth came the sky of joy and beauty lavish,
They say it’s love, life’s game
Something like a balloon of snow;
Waiting for the needle to save all from the smoke,
If that is all it takes, I can lie too ya know.

Written by Nicolette McDonald
Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Emily Dickinson
Composed in Verse by Verse

Nicolette grew up in the city of Chicago as the oldest of three. Occupied throughout childhood by a life of school, sports, and friends, she felt her identity was shaped by all the walks of my life. She has found she likes to make an escape, whether that is on the sports’ court, in a good book, or her own mind.

Monday

This image was generated by C4C Lauren Mirande in collaboration with Midjourney.

The image I created within Midjourney exists to display a futuristic scene of humanity working in conjunction with non-living robot entities. The image depicts a populated urban area, where humans and robots go about their day, unphased by the world around them. Humanity has become accustomed to interaction with non-living superintelligence as a conventional part of life. One boy witnesses the reality before him, as if things weren’t always this way, but he would not know any different. Is humanity vulnerable to this kind of world in the near future? Moreover, are we content with this scene of life?

Prompt: “A human surrounded by hundreds of robots in a city”

C4C Lauren Mirande is from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and a member of CS-34. As an IC soccer athlete, she enjoys playing sports, lifting, snowboarding, and staying active. She is planning to major in geospatial sciences with a Spanish minor and enjoys getting to see her parents, younger brother, and two french bulldogs in her time away from the Academy.

Untitled

This image was generated by Kaitlin Nethercutt in collaboration with Midjourney.

After reading the assigned sources for class, I realized that some of them touched on empathy, ethics, and the idea of monsters. However, while these concepts are certainly relevant to the question of what it means to be human, they do not overtly address the idea of human error. It is too simple to reduce the question of what it means to be human to a biological definition, however being human is a lto more complex than simply belonging to a particular species. For me, one of the most compelling answers to the question of what it means to be humans are our capacity for error. After all, if humans never made mistakes, could we still be considered human? This answer of ‘to err it to human” emphasizes the idea of being human as it reveals that humans are flawed and prone to making errors. I have heard many times throughout my life the phrase “I’m only human” after one makes a mistake. Making mistakes is essential to being a human as it develops our understanding of not only the world but of ourselves. This understanding allows humans to continuously learn, grow, increase our capacity for creativity, and independent thinking.

Without mistakes humanity would be incomplete. I kept trying to fine tune my image more and more by looking up many images. My inspiration came from thinking about myself. I started to think of everything that I do and something that has been on my mind for a long time was that whatever I do does not seem to ever be enough. I think that maybe if I was perfect, I would be happier, but I also feel like if that was the case, I wouldn’t be human. I know that making mistakes is not a weakness as it has inspired me to discover, research, and succeed, although I cannot help but think that if I was perfect, I would not think so low of myself (my self-image I feel would be really high). The text I used to generate the image was: A man and woman as a puzzle but it has missing pieces. I included a man and a woman because human error is not limited to a gender. Everyone makes errors whether they admit it or not. The missing puzzle pieces by their heads represent the idea that humans are not perfect. Another way that the puzzle pieces can be interpreted is that humans are not complete unless they make mistakes because it is from those mistakes that makes humans whole.

Prompt: A man and women as a puzzle but it has missing pieces.

Consciousness

This image was generated by Russell Olson in collaboration with DALL.E 2.

In this artwork a human is shown deep in thought with emotions and memories surrounding them. This mix of emotions and memories is symbolic to human consciousness, and it represents how humans think in a streamline of thoughts altered by emotions and previous experiences. This imperfect mix of thoughts, emotions, and memories is what gives people their humanity. It took a lot of attempts to generate this image, but I am proud of the result. I put a lot of thought into what words I used when generating the image. I chose the word human because it was not tied to a specific gender and represents humanity as whole. I chose to focus on emotion because emotion is closely tied to human experience. Also, I chose the adjectives detailed and expressive because they were shown to produce better art. Finally, I chose the adjective surrealist because surrealism is tied to dreams and the subconscious which are very human concepts.

Prompt: A human made of emotion expressive detailed surrealist digital art.

Life as We Know It

This image was generated by Cassidy Spakes in collaboration with Dall E2.

Being human is unique, and cannot be fulfilled by artificial intelligence. There are many ways to
portray it, but I determined a fitting phrase to be “biological breathing with an ability to truly
love.” I think that the ability to love and express this is an innately human characteristic. I
plugged the aforementioned phrase into Dall E2 without any other limitations to see what it
would create. It generated an image with both humans and horses and loving facial expressions
with warm tones.

Prompt: Biological breathing with an ability to truly love.

C4C Cassidy Spakes is a sprinter for the track and field team and is an English major and a French minor.

One of Us

This image was generated by C4C Antonio Thomas in collaboration with Dall E2.

This picture represents a child raised to believe he is something he is not, choosing to focus his attention on the machines that he believes himself to be rather than on the girl in front of him. Speaking volumes on how machine integration at a young age can shift human society.

I believe that in this case the inspiration of the image was the most important thing to address when completing this assignment. Since I received my images second hand the first prompt, I came up with was what I went with meaning that the image didn’t necessarily come out exactly how I wanted. However, I was able to apply my original intent to the image because art meaning is what you give it. Accepting that a piece of art might mean different things and that a reasonable person would be able to derive my train of thought from the bio and see it in the artwork is the most important part of this assignment.

Prompt: “A human child raised by robots staring at a machine while being yelled at by adult
humans by Frida Kahlo”

This art is the brainchild of Antonio Thomas a native resident of Havre de Grace Maryland, who decided to enlist in the Air Force after high school was tasked with packing parachutes as well as being stationed in Misawa, Japan and through hard work was accepted to attend the United States Air Force Academy.

What I Think I Am

This image was generated by Melina Thompson in collaboration with Midjourney.

I originally wanted to create an image where the robot was painting a portrait of itself and being watched, but instead, the image generated is of a human painting himself as a robot. My intention was to draw on the movie Ex Machina, particularly the scenes where Ava presents her drawings to Caleb, and on the novel Klara and the Sun, examining how Klara is expected to act like a human but is never actually treated as such. There are two ways to interpret the image, one being as a representation of the desire to mechanize human emotion. Ex Machina highlights the imitation of emotions to achieve a specific goal and Klara and the Sun presents an AI that ultimately does the same thing, however with purer intentions; the recreation of emotions is essentially utilized to meet an objective. In answering the question: “What does it mean to be human?”, the prompt I gave was an attempt at explaining that the complexity of human emotions prevents us from truly being able to reproduce them. Being human is more easily defined by what it is not, and what I have gathered is that being human consists of emotions that cannot be mechanized. Our emotions are not used to meet an end; deciphering what emotions are for is incredibly difficult, but we as humans do not feel things to achieve a specific goal or objective, we just feel them. Had the prompt been executed the way I had written it, the human watching the robot paint itself would be resemblant of the desire to “humanize” something made artificially, but never allow for it to be considered “human.”

Because my statement intended for a robot to paint a portrait of itself, it is equally important to examine the picture from this angle; the robot is the one painting, and though it outwardly presents as human, like Klara, it is still ultimately a machine programmed with an objective and no matter how much we humanize it, that fact will remain unchanged.

Prompt: a robot painting a portrait of itself with a human watching

Melina Thompson is from Orlando, FL, and a sophomore in Cadet Squadron 37. She is an English major and enjoys reading a lot of historical fiction and African American literature.