Ai presents typological libraries - into which you can feed your drawings.  These typological libraries are a set of public fantasies which may, if used enough, change how you see the world.  Working back and forth between your own experience and the hive-mind of the library, actual drawing abilities and fluidity of creativity grow in importance.  The risk, is that your own work may become entwined in public ways of seeing. There is a common perception that Ai produced drawings are novel- this article, and various court cases - may show this is a bit of a stretch.  But Ai still performs a valuable service, assembling typological representations for you to view and work with.

​

What is a typological library?

​

A typology is a “form.” In the most platonic sense each form is “essential” and it can only be seen as a representation, a kind of shadow of the “real” thing.  Even a written word or spoken word is only a representation of the true idea, or so we are led to believe by Plato in the Timaeus and the Allegory of the Cave. 

Once we understand that we never can actually see a form, only it’s myriad representations, then we can begin to understand how a typological library assembles a variety of representations according to a particular topic.  Consider the metaphor of a physical library.  You find a section labeled “Dogen Zenji” and below the heading are potentially hundreds of books on Dogen and by Dogen. In these books there are many representations of Dogen and the ideas of Dogen.  

Likewise, in a library if you search for “melancholy” you will find many books, representations, and pictures of melancholy.  You might find some great anthologies such as “The Anatomy of Melancholy” by Robert Burton, but there will never be a singular definitive answer. No library is complete.   This set of data, in the library, can be referred to as a “training set.” It presents a vocabulary, a veritable thesaurus of representations of “melancholy.” 

​

Midjourney Ai and Google Image Search

​

Midjourney Ai represents a particular typological library.  Google Image Search also represents a typological library.  In no way do either platforms represent “reality” fully.  Midjourney Ai is biased towards art from the 17th to the 20th centuries primarily in the Western tradition. There is a strong emphasis on biophillic imagery a la Ruskin, certain pre-Raphaelite elements, and a strong influence from impressionism.  In a sense, Midjourney Ai is like a singular pop artist today. One who uses many famous precedents, and never cites their work. However, the only notable point is that the artist is not you, because it’s not a real time drawing process.  However, you are a good collaborator, or design director for the artist.  Midjourney provides a set of typological elements based on key words which you as the design director enter.

Google Image Search is very similar to Midjourney Ai and other Ai drawing tools.  However, Google Image Search provides you with a variety of images when you enter a prompt, rather than one image.  Google Image Search also always provides a citation of the publication of the work in the form of a hyperlink, which may or may not suggest the original artist.  Google Image Search and Midjourney Ai both provide very valuable typological libraries.