Life imitates art, or does art imitate life? With OpenAI's DALL-E 2, art can imitate just about anything. The trending text-to-art platform allows users to generate images, but with their words instead of art supplies.
The concept sounds almost too simple (and futuristic) to be true: Type your idea into a search bar and voila! But for the best results, you'll want to follow these tips and tricks to get the most realistic and accurate representations of your desired searches.
How to use: Midjourney | Bing Image Creator | Craiyon | Stable Diffusion
Before you get started with DALL-E 2, there are three housekeeping rules that you should know:
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Since you technically create the idea for your artwork, you, by default, are the accredited artist for the AI-generated product. If you choose to download the image, though, there will be a colorful DALL-E 2, watermark on the bottom right corner.
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There are limits to what you can create with the platform. For example, DALL-E 2's content policy prohibits harmful, deceitful, or political content. To discourage deep fakes, search terms for many public figures — Taylor Swift, for example — are prohibited. While not all celebrities violate the content policy, their faces will often be distorted for safety.
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DALL-E 2 is currently free to use, but there is a catch. After signing up for OpenAI via email, you're allotted 50 free credits during your first month's use and 15 free credits after that, which renew monthly. A credit is only cashed after a generation is inputted and completed, so searches that violate the content policy and, therefore, end up not being generated won't be deducted from the free credits. You can check how many credits you have remaining each month by clicking on your profile icon in the upper right hand corner of the search interface, and there's also an option to buy more.
How to use DALL-E 2 to create custom art
Some DALL-E 2-generated art pieces for inspiration.
Generating the phrase presents you with four AI-generated interpretations.
You can save the generated image to the Favorites collection or a custom one.
Also: 5 ways ChatGPT can help you write an essay
Tips and tricks to get the best DALL-E 2 results
Using AI tools to generate art can be fairly intuitive, but between having so many possibilities and needing to specifically communicate your abstract ideas with a robot, here are some tips I've curated that make creating funky art even easier.
1. Draw from others' inspiration
If inspiration hasn't struck you quite yet or you're feeling overwhelmed, hover your mouse over an image or concept you like from the main page gallery and select "Click to try."
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From there, DALL-E 2 will create similar variations which you can customize with your own text description(s).
2. Don't be stuck, be surprised
If you lack inspiration, let the software be your muse. Above the search bar, select the "Surprise me" button. From there, a phrase will appear in the search bar. You can either hit the button again for a different result, modify the phrase with your personal touch, or keep it as is and generate.
You can select the "surprise me" button if you're stuck or just want some fun art.
3. Explain to DALL-E 2 like it's a five-year-old
The other day, my colleague Sabrina Ortiz was trying to create a piece with a Corgi and a Yorkie. DALL-E 2 had no problem recognizing the word "Corgi" but struggled to process "Yorkie" or "Yorkshire Terrier". Instead, "Yorkie dog" did the trick. Essentially, the more specific, the better — AI is smart, but you're smarter.
FAQ
What is DALL-E 2?
Originally launched in early 2021, DALL-E 2 is OpenAI's artificial intelligence system that allows users to create art from textual input.
Is DALL-E 2 free?
In September 2022, DALL-E 2 officially closed its waiting list and opened the platform to the public. Users start with 50 free credits to transform searches into fully generated artwork and 15 free credits every month from then on. The site also allows you to buy more credits.
Can I use my DALL-E 2 creation for merchandise?
Yes. Arguably the best thing about DALL-E 2 is that users have full rights to commercially use, print, and merchandise their own unique, AI creations. Craiyon, another AI art generator, offers users the ability to order shirts with their designs on them from within the platform.
Is making art on DALL-E 2 ethical?
It's definitely cool that your art is credited to you and DALL-E 2, but it's important to recognize that DALL-E 2, along with other AI art generators, are trained on billions of pieces of art culled from the internet. These images have, and belong to, an original artist. While that artist isn't directly creating your DALL-E piece, your art does have elements from the original art without being credited to the artist. Whether or not AI-generated art is ethical is currently a hot topic of debate.
Is DALL-E 2 the same as Bing Image Creator?
Interestingly, Bing Image Creator actually uses a more advanced version of Open AI's DALLE-2. The rendered images differ in artistic subtleties and attention to detail, with Bing Image Creator producing a more vibrant, detailed image.
