002. Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Interior Design-Part 1
OMG, have you see this?!
Interior design is my side obsession. I’m particularly enamoured with the ever-busy British interior design makeover and DIY world. I’m an absolute fan girl of Sophie Robinson and her shared podcast, The Great Indoors, done with Kate Watson-Smyth of Mad About the House. I love Interior Design Masters and its predecessor The Great Interior Design Challenge, Scotland’s Home of the Year, 2LG Studios, Siobhan Murphy of Interior Curve, etc, etc. I’ve done their courses, read their books, bought their cushions. I LOVE THEM ALL.
So, when I saw that Siobhan Murphy was featured in a YouTube episode, I excitedly tuned in, tea and cake in hand. What I saw absolutely stunned me. It was a bizarre viewing experience because they acted as if what they were doing was no big deal … Whereas to me, it felt like a giant brick of the future foretold had dropped onto my screen. I looked around me … WAIT, WHAT?! Did anyone else just see what I just saw?! The implications are staggering!
You can watch the 10 minute episode yourself (link at the end of this article), but this is the basic summary: A home goods store used biometric data to design a client couple’s family dining room. The tech included three main devices:
Eye-tracking device to see what items the clients looked at longest
Electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure what grabbed their brains’ attention
Cardiac rhythm device to show which items excited them most
The wife and husband were shown colours, textures, and products on large screens, while their biometric reactions to the images were collected. Using this data, a dining room was styled for them that contained items that the couple’s bodies had liked.
So the design was generated circumventing a human designer, going straight to the client’s biological reactions. And this was just a baby beta foray into this world! (Admittedly, the result was a bit lackluster to my humble eyes, but the product choices were limited to those sold by the sponsoring company and the design certainly didn’t reflect Siobhan Murphy’s AMAZING style and skill. - But it wasn’t supposed to … it was supposed to reflect what the client couple’s bodies liked. The fact that my body didn’t like it is entirely beside the point.)
I’m always late to the digital party. In the past few months, I‘ve been reading about Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps like Midjourney, DALL-E 2, and more recently, Lensa. My amazement while watching the YouTube episode pushed me to try this technology myself. AND WOW. Apparently, while I’ve been busy parenting a young son, nurturing a loving marriage, and teaching little children … the future arrived!
My first step into Midjourney was actually a bit scary. A moving video popped up on my screen with letters and numbers gyrating in offputtingly futuristic patterns.
“Woah there … back off you scary, futuristic screen attacking my visual cortex which is not yet adapted to the future that arrived while I wasn’t paying attention!”
Nevertheless, intrepid seeker style, I was not deterred and pressed on … by pressing “Join the Beta”.
First go. I typed in the following:
living room with many windows with bright joyful colours that is cosy and welcoming
60-ish seconds later I got the below four images.
A little gasp. Reactions said aloud to myself in my empty house:
“Amazing!”
“Holy shit!”
“I want a room like this in my next house.”
I quickly learned that there were specific keywords other Midjourney users were typing to prompt certain styles of images. Words like…
Photorealistic
Pleaidians (a type of alien I think, which was quite popular that particular morning in my Midjourney chat room)
Movie style poster
Have you heard that silly statistic that expensive private schools like to share?… That “85% of the jobs that today’s learners will be doing in 2030 haven’t been invented yet”? Well, here’s a job that does not exist yet, but soon might: Artificial Intelligence Imagery Poet. Here’s an advert for the services such a professional would offer:
Frustrated by hours in front of your screen trying to find the right description for your AI app to generate an image, mood, or feeling? - Only to get image after image that doesn’t capture the essence of what you need … ?
Our team of AI Imagery Poets are your solution. Extensively trained in our proprietary system, Deep Listening for AI Translation®, our team of AI Imagery Poets are the best in the field. They possess unparalleled skills in hearing your message, understanding its essence, and translating that into words that AI will use to produce visuals that respond to your desires in ways that even you could not have imagined.
Packages are available for every budget and situation - from basic aesthetics for creatives, to therapeutic images for the healing of deepest trauma. All images are produced by Dentro, a privately networked AI, providing results vastly superior to those produced by commercially available AI.
The future has arrived. Contact us today.
But even without possessing the honed skills of a AI Imagery Poet, my basic word choices still managed to produce some pretty cool interior inspiration!
airy kitchen with bar stools neon colours.
big kitchen with stove, refrigerator, and dining table decorated in muted pastel colours, sophisticated.
sophisticated bedroom dark moody green gold accents warm lighting art deco.
5 year old child's whimsical bedroom bright colours of yellow and red with decor of hot air balloons and giraffes:
laundry room modern scandi style with washer and dryer and lots of storage space:
18th century fancy dining room with velvet upholstered chairs, with william morrison wallpaper on walls, and grand vegetarian christmas meal on table:
These were from a free account using beta technology that has been available to the general public for less than one year. IMAGINE what is and will be possible with more time, technology, and expertise. It’s just a matter of (short) time until we can generate images of dream interiors and then have AI source real life products that match these dream rooms … READ PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE FOR MY MUSINGS ON THAT!
It was hard to stop…
kitchen island with refrigerator and stove in the background, purple and blue:
Etcetera, etcetera … there are indeed endless possibilities.
Just WOW.
mind-blown, brown skinned girl, excited, surprised, afro, cartoon style:
I would love to chat about this and hear your thoughts and comments - you can type below! Talk to me! :-)
Does this not seem like a big deal to you?
How have you been using Midjourney, DALL-E 2, Lensa, or other AI programmes for your creative work?
What other interesting and practical uses are you imagining for this technology?
What are your thoughts about how to protect the intellectual property of creative professionals and how to use this technology responsibly?
Does all this just make you want to switch off your WiFi and live offline as much as possible for the rest of your life?
Below are related links for your rabbit-holing pleasure:
YouTube episode with Siobhan Murphy of Interior Curve and Argos that got me started thinking about all this.
Demopoulus, Alaina. “The inherent misogyny of AI portraits – Amelia Earhart rendered naked on a bed.” The Guardian, 9 Dec. 2022.
Roose, Kevin. “An A.I.-Generated Picture Won an Art Prize. Artists Aren’t Happy. New York Times, 2 Sep. 2022.
Heikkilä, Melissa. “Artists can now opt out of the next version of Stable Diffusion.” MIT Technology Review, 16 Dec 2022.
Newton, Derek. “The Myth Of Jobs That Don't Exist Yet.” Forbes, 28 Dec. 2018.
It wasn’t immediately apparent to me how to generate images on Midjourney. Here’s a helpful step by step tutorial I used to learn how to do it. Hyper easy, takes 5 minutes. TRY IT! REALLY.
Guidance on being writing more effective Midjourney prompts, from a first generation AI Imagery Poet who doesn’t yet have the official title.
Yuval Noah Harari. For little ‘ole me, he is one of the smartest people speaking in our world right now. He has interesting thoughts on AI and how to adapt to our changing world.
A few of my fav British interior design links: Sophie Robinson, her shared podcast The Great Indoors Podcast with Kate Watson-Smyth of Mad About the House, Interior Design Masters and its predecessor The Great Interior Design Challenge, Scotland’s Home of the Year, 2LG Studios, Siobhan Murphy of Interior Curve, and there are SO many more…
Ooo Vanessa. This was such an interesting read... I’ve watched the YouTube video from Siobhan and Argos too. It really made me smile as do all these interior make overs - wow! 🤩 I am doing a research project at the moment looking at the impact 360 video can have on our engagement with arts and culture - it’s a relatively new technology for our sector and the results are cautious but positive! I’m particularly interested in how it might help those with chronic health conditions to experience events they wouldn’t ordinarily go to... we’ll see! Thanks for writing and your insight! Claire 🙌🏻
A great topic and a fun read! I think about AI, its uses, and humanity often. My first thoughts are that I am always excited about the potential that new and emerging technology may assist in a better tomorrow for all and just the ingenuity of the human collective. Creating healing, supportive, deeply personalized visually harmonious living and communal environments that are supported by the abilities of AI but with the design rendered by a human sounds perfect. That said, I often feel like earlier and more transparency about an emerging tech's potential (both positive and negative implications) could have for the individual and society as a whole. That way we can push for clear legislation on how we utilize said technology before it is integrated fully into the fabric of our society. I give you kudos for jumping into AI to learn more and to experiment with its potential. It is here now and there isn't any popping it back into its box! The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to get out there and use it to its most beautiful potential. Thank you again for a thought-provoking post!