Chapter 1: The Journey into AI Art

My venture into AI-generated art commenced a fortnight prior to Thanksgiving. I eagerly sat down at my computer to explore Midjourney, a program that transforms text descriptions into visual art. As I typed the command "/imagine," the bot responded, "There are endless possibilities …"

With excitement, I described an image I envisioned: a young African American man dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, soaring through clouds and space like he was dreaming. Midjourney produced four renditions reminiscent of "happy little accidents," a term the beloved artist Bob Ross might have used. In each creation, the clouds resembled chaotic cotton balls, and the man lacked a distinct face. Rather than flying, he appeared to walk, sit, or get lost in the clouds. The results were disappointing.

After spending several days analyzing other users' text-to-image prompts, I refined my descriptions. Through trial and error, I learned how to direct the AI to produce images that aligned more closely with my vision. I transformed my daughter into Princess Leia, myself into a guardian angel, and even reimagined Santa Claus as Batman.

Chapter 2: AI-Generated Art and Black Fatherhood

As a Black father who blogs, I was intrigued to see how AI interprets fatherhood. One day, I entered the phrase: young African American father holding sleeping baby, illustration. Midjourney generated four heartwarming images that reminded me of my early, sleep-deprived days as a dad, cradling my daughter to help her sleep. I shared one on Instagram, titling it "The Whole World in His Hands."

The responses from fellow Black fathers were overwhelmingly positive, suggesting they felt recognized in these depictions. This motivated me to create more AI-generated artwork inspired by my experiences or those of fathers I know. I crafted images of Black dads teaching their sons to tie a tie, reading with their children, enjoying date nights with their partners, and spending quality time with their daughters. These images stand in stark contrast to the prevalent "absentee father" stereotype often portrayed in media and culture.

Occasionally, I would forget to include "African American" in my prompts, leading Midjourney to generate images of white fathers. Initially, this didn't bother me. However, after several instances, I began to ponder, "Why are Black fathers absent from AI's default portrayal of fatherhood?"

So, I decided to conduct an experiment. I typed "fatherhood" into Midjourney ten times. Each time, the bot produced four images, totaling 40 representations of its programmed understanding of fatherhood. Shockingly, only one image featured a Black father, while none depicted individuals of color.

The AI's default image of "fatherhood" appeared to be a white father either holding or embracing a child.

Chapter 3: The Impact of Bias in AI

The presence of bias in image generation systems isn't surprising. As digital artist and scholar Nettrice Gaskins pointed out in a recent Instagram post, "The processes by which machines learn to recognize images are akin to how humans perceive things. Neural networks are trained on millions of images from databases; they classify and sort image data based on human input, ultimately determining the probabilities of the final images produced." Artists can adjust the parameters that guide these systems, granting them influence over the images that come to life.

Yet, this situation evokes the profound words of Ralph Ellison in his 1952 novel Invisible Man: "I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me, they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination — indeed, everything and anything except me."

Representation is crucial. It validates experiences and elevates aspirations. This is the understanding I carry with me as I continue my artistic exploration with Midjourney. As Gaskins inspired, I possess the power to shape the images produced by AI, and I can expand the visual representation of Black fatherhood.